Three places the policy always lives
The state’s hospital-by-hospital directory. The Department of Health publishes financial assistance information for hospitals across the state at health.ny.gov/facilities/hospital/financial_assist/hosp_info/. Start there rather than with a search engine, because it is the state’s own record of what each hospital filed.
The hospital’s own website. Hospitals are required to make the policy available, and in practice it sits under billing, “paying for care,” or “patient financial services.” Look for three documents: the full policy, the application, and the plain-language summary.
The hospital itself, on paper. Hospitals with 24-hour emergency departments must notify patients at intake and registration with conspicuously posted, language-appropriate information, and must state on bills and statements that financial aid may be available and how to ask about it. You are also entitled to a written summary when you are admitted, registered or discharged, and a copy with any bill.
If a bill arrives with no mention of financial assistance anywhere on it, that is itself worth raising.
The rule almost nobody explains: primary service area
This is the distinction that decides whether a hospital owes you assistance at all, and it is nowhere in the ordinary conversation.
Emergency services: a hospital must provide financial aid to patients who reside in New York State. Where you live in the state does not matter.
Medically necessary non-emergency services: a hospital must provide financial aid to patients who reside in the hospital’s primary service area.
Two consequences follow. Every geographic area of the state must be inside at least one hospital’s primary service area, so nobody falls outside the system entirely. And hospitals may extend assistance beyond their primary service area but are not required to, so a non-emergency bill from a hospital far from home is the one case where the answer can legitimately be no.
If you are told you are outside the service area, two questions follow: “Was this billed as emergency or non-emergency care?” and “Which hospital’s primary service area covers my address?”
When the hospital’s policy is weaker than the law
New York’s financial assistance law was amended effective October 20, 2024, and posted hospital policies do not all reflect it. A policy document dated before that, or one that quietly stops at 300%, is not the current law.
The floor that binds every hospital regardless of what its own policy says:
| Household income | What a hospital may charge an uninsured patient |
|---|---|
| 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% of the Medicaid rate |
Plus: no asset test, immigration status may not be considered, a written decision within 30 days, no lawsuit against a patient below 400% of the poverty level, payment plans capped at 5% of monthly income and interest at 2%, and 180 days before an account may go to collections after the first bill.
And separately, if your out-of-pocket medical costs over twelve months exceed 10% of gross income, the law treats you as underinsured and the caps reach you even though you have coverage.
The order that works
- Ask for the plain-language summary and the uniform application, in your language, before anything else. Do this whether or not a bill has arrived.
- Apply even if you think you earn too much. The 400% threshold for a large household is a substantial income, and the underinsured provision reaches people with coverage.
- Apply even if the bill is old. Applications are accepted at any stage, including after an account has gone to a collection agency.
- Ask for the account to be held while the application is pending, and get that in writing.
- Get the decision in writing. You are entitled to one within 30 days, and a written decision is what an appeal is built on.
- If refused, escalate. The hospital’s own appeal first, then the Attorney General’s helpline at 800-428-9071.
The hospitals we do cover
NYC Health + Hospitals · Maimonides · One Brooklyn Health · SUNY Downstate · Wyckoff Heights · BronxCare · Richmond University · Mount Sinai · Montefiore · NewYork-Presbyterian · Northwell · NYU Langone
For anything else, the method above is the same everywhere, because the law is the same everywhere.
Questions people ask
Where do I find a specific hospital’s financial assistance policy?
Start with the state health department’s hospital-by-hospital directory at health.ny.gov, then the hospital’s own billing or “paying for care” pages, which must carry the policy, the application and a plain-language summary.
Does every hospital use the same application?
Every hospital licensed by the state must accept the New York State Uniform Hospital Financial Assistance Application. Ask for it by that name.
What is a primary service area and why does it matter?
Hospitals must provide financial aid for emergency services to any New York State resident, and for non-emergency care to residents of their primary service area. It is the one situation where a refusal can be legitimate.
The hospital’s policy says something different from the law. Who wins?
The law. Policies posted before the October 20, 2024 amendment are out of date. Cite the law in writing and escalate to the Attorney General’s Health Care Bureau Helpline at 800-428-9071.
Can I get the application in my language?
Yes, where your language meets the regulatory threshold for that hospital’s patient population. Ask, and ask for the request to be noted.
I have insurance. Does any of this apply to me?
It can. If your out-of-pocket medical costs over twelve months exceed 10% of gross income, the law treats you as underinsured and the caps apply.
Sources
- NYS Department of Health — hospital financial assistance, information by hospital (checked 2026-09-13)
- NYS Department of Health — hospital financial assistance for patients (checked 2026-09-13)
- New York Attorney General — hospital financial assistance (checked 2026-09-13)
- NY Health Access — NYS Hospital Financial Assistance Law (checked 2026-09-13)
More in Hospital Financial Assistance in New York: Who Pays Nothing, Who Pays 10%
- NewYork-Presbyterian Bills and Financial Assistance — One visit to an academic medical center produces a facility bill plus separate professional bills. How to read each envelope and which office answers for it.
- Hospital for Special Surgery: Apply Before Your Care, and Approval Lasts Two Years — HSS's own policy lets you apply before scheduled care, keeps an approval for two years, and reaches U.S. residents well beyond New York. How to use it.
- Memorial Sloan Kettering: Financial Assistance for Patients Anywhere in the U.S. — MSK's own policy opens its financial assistance program to patients who live anywhere in the U.S., with two conditions for new patients. How it works.
This page explains how the system works. It is not medical advice. More.