Hospital Financial Assistance in New York City, Compared: 14 Hospitals and Systems Side by Side

Hospital financial assistance in New York is usually explained one hospital at a time, from the hospital’s own brochure. We cover 14 hospitals and systems on separate pages, each built from the hospital’s published policy and checked against state law. This study puts the same fields side by side, so a patient can see which rules are the same everywhere and which ones depend on where the bill came from.

The floor every hospital must meet

Insured patients qualify for the same tiers on their own share when out-of-pocket medical costs over 12 months exceed 10% of gross income. A hospital may not send an account to collections within 180 days of the first bill, may not sue a patient under 400% of the poverty level, and may not set a payment plan above 5% of gross monthly income. The full law.

Free care thresholds, hospital by hospital

For HSS, 500% of the poverty level is about $79,800 for one person in 2026, using the federal figure of $15,960 for a household of one. Its summary adds a 50% discount from 501% to 700%. MSK waives all charges at or below 500% and, for insured patients in that range, accepts what the plan pays as payment in full.

The three that go further, and how

How you apply, by hospital

Each row summarizes our page for that hospital, which links to the hospital’s own policy and lists the phone numbers it publishes. For a hospital not listed, see how to find any hospital’s policy.

What the comparison shows

The law does most of the work. For a household at or below 400% of the poverty level, the gap between a generous hospital and a minimal one is smaller than people expect, because the state floor caps the bill everywhere. The difference shows up above 400%, where HSS and MSK keep helping and most others stop.

Paperwork is where patients lose. The hospitals differ most in how you apply: an email address, a portal, an office visit, a fax number. A short deadline printed in a summary, such as Richmond’s 90 days, does not override state law, which accepts applications at any stage. If a hospital refuses a late application, say: “State law lets me apply at any stage, including after collections. Please accept and decide my application.”

Residency rules vary. Emergency care is covered wherever you live, while a hospital may limit non-emergency help to its primary service area. Some hospitals open the door wider: Maimonides to all of New York City, HSS and MSK to U.S. residents.

Methodology

We compiled the dataset on October 10, 2026 from our 14 hospital pages, each written from the hospital’s published financial assistance policy, plain-language summary and application, and checked against Public Health Law 2807-k as amended in 2024. A field is filled only where the hospital’s own documents, as summarized on our page, state it; where a page restates the state floor, the dataset says so. On November 3, 2026 we rechecked the HSS, Memorial Sloan Kettering and Maimonides rows against each hospital’s current documents: HSS’s January 2026 summary still states free care to 500% and a 50% discount from 501% to 700%, and its full policy keeps a two-year approval; MSK’s February 2026 policy still opens aid to new patients who live or work anywhere in the U.S. and promises a decision within two weeks of a complete file; Maimonides lists its application and policy in 13 languages. Hospitals revise policies, so the page for each hospital carries its own check date.

Download: nyc-hospital-financial-assistance-2026.csv, one row per hospital or system, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0. Credit: NYC Med News, “Hospital Financial Assistance in New York City, Compared,” October 10, 2026.