BronxCare Bills and Financial Assistance

Which number, and why it matters

BronxCare is a health system rather than a single building, and its financial assistance runs through more than one office. The hospital publishes a Financial Assistance Office number, and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Health Center publishes its own.

Open the call by naming the site and the date:

“I was treated at [site] on [date] and I’d like to apply for financial assistance. Is this the right office for that site?”

If it is not, ask for the number that is rather than leaving a message that goes to the wrong queue. This single question is the difference between a two-week process and a two-month one.

The application exists in Spanish

BronxCare publishes the state’s uniform application in English and Spanish. That is worth knowing because the default at a busy desk is the English form.

Ask for it in the language you actually read:

“I’d like the New York State Uniform Hospital Financial Assistance Application in Spanish.”

Under the state’s rules, application forms must be printed in the primary languages of the patients a hospital serves. If your language is not among the versions offered and a large share of the hospital’s patients speak it, that is worth raising. Your language rights in a New York hospital.

Who the program reaches

The published program is for low-income patients who reside in the community and cannot afford all or part of medically necessary services. That is the primary service area structure the law sets: assistance for emergency services goes to any New York State resident, while non-emergency care runs on residence in the hospital’s primary service area. Why that distinction matters.

If you are told you are outside the area, two questions: “Was this billed as emergency or non-emergency?” and “Which hospital’s primary service area covers my address?” Every part of the state is inside at least one.

Before the number

A self-pay balance is a records status, not a verdict. The Bronx has one of the highest rates of eligible-but-unenrolled households in the city, so this question lands here more than almost anywhere:

“Was I screened for coverage for the date of service, and was I screened for Emergency Medicaid?”

Emergency Medicaid covers treatment of an emergency condition, including childbirth, for people who meet the Medicaid income rules but not the immigration rules. It is arranged at the hospital, usually after the care has happened.

And separately from any of it: NYC Care has no immigration requirement and no income cutoff for membership, and state law bars immigration status from being considered in hospital financial assistance at all. What status does and does not affect.

The floor that applies regardless

• At or below 200% of the federal poverty level: nothing out of pocket for medically necessary care
• 201% to 300%: no more than 10% of the Medicaid rate; 301% to 400%: no more than 20%
• No asset test, immigration status may not be considered, written decision in 30 days, no lawsuit below 400%, payment plans capped at 5% of monthly income and 2% interest, 180 days before collections
• Applications accepted at any stage, including after collections

A policy that stops at 300% predates the October 20, 2024 amendment. Cite the law in writing and escalate to the Attorney General’s Health Care Bureau Helpline at 800-428-9071 if the answer does not change.