Financial help to pay medical bills

Hi Lynn71,
I am sorry to hear of you troubles. I am on the other side of the state but it should work somewhat the same. The first place i would contact is united way. They have helped me in the past with the same issues. The have many different resources and can often help with bills and essentials or at least put you in contact with local charities that may be able to help. Also i would like into Medicaid or Medicare to help supplement your insurance. Hope this helps

For any hospital bills speak with the hospital's financial department and ask about their charitable care plans. Some hospitals are good about telling people about them while others you have to specifically ask. These programs are based solely on income and have nothing to do with whether you have insurance.

If any of the doctors you see or have seen are employed through a hospital or clinic ask about financial assistance they have. If any of the doctors you have seen are employed by any of the hospitals you owe money to, even though you may be billed separately, one application may cover both but sometimes you may have to put in separate applications.

Contact the manufacturers of the medications you are on. Most have some kind of assistance programs. Some are only good if you have no insurance but others offer copay discounts or other help even if you do. They only way to know is to ask.

Goodwill, The United Way, Salvation Army and Catholic Charities may have financial assistance programs for medical needs. Who has what and what is available varies widely from area to area.

Check with your state's public aid department. While you may not qualify for full medicaid they may have other programs such as prescription assistance that you might. Since every state manages its own assistance programs and those programs change often you won't know what is available until you check it out.

Finally the state public aid office, state/county health department and the social services department of the local hospital may have information about other local sources for medical assistance.

Snowbunny suggested garage sales and pawn shops.

Let me add ebay. I've sold at least a dozen different items and almost do well. I've sold an old injet printer, some old cell phones, and misc. old tech filling up the closet. I also once tried selling an interesting looking rock I found, but got no bids.

For my dog, I buy used tennis balls. People go to tennis courts and collect them. IF you are able, that's a way to make some money. Map out the courts in your area and make the rounds. You might be able to make $50-$100 per week.

I've seen coupons on ebay so if you don't have anything lying around to sell, that's another option to look into. Maybe look around on their site and see what other odd stuff people sell.

Good luck.

Hey Jaiennash,

Welcome to HealingWell and the CP forum. However, I'm locking this thread as it's almost a year old... But we'd like to invite you to post an "intro post" and introduce yourself. :)

Let me know if you have any questions and, again, welcome to HW. --Tina