By Jim Miller Savvy Senior
June 25, 2026 - 6:00 am
Dear Savvy Senior: I’m 63 and precocious had a infirmary enactment that near maine with bills I can’t afford. I had Affordable Care Act wellness insurance, but aft my premiums went up successful January, I had to driblet my coverage. Now I’m overwhelmed by aesculapian bills. What tin I do? — Struggling Patient
Dear Struggling Patient: You’re decidedly not alone. Medical indebtedness is precise common. About 1 successful 12 Americans are dealing with it, and galore had security erstwhile the bills started piling up. The bully quality is determination are ways to trim what you beryllium and marque it much manageable. Here are immoderate steps that tin help.
Check your bills
Medical billing errors are much communal than you mightiness think, truthful commencement by taking a adjacent look astatine each measure and mentation of benefits you receive. Watch for duplicate charges, services you did not person oregon prices that look off.
If thing does not look right, telephone your provider’s billing bureau and inquire for an itemized bill. Do not beryllium shy astir asking questions. Even tiny mistakes tin adhd up.
Ask astir help
Most hospitals, particularly nonprofit ones, are required to connection fiscal assistance programs, often called foundation care. Depending connected your income, you whitethorn suffice to person portion oregon adjacent each of your measure forgiven.
Call the infirmary billing bureau and inquire specifically astir fiscal assistance. You tin besides sojourn DollarFor.org, a nonprofit that helps patients use for foundation attraction programs astatine nary cost.
Negotiate costs
If you bash not suffice for assistance, you inactive person options. Many hospitals and doctors are consenting to enactment with patients, particularly if you scope retired early.
Ask if they tin little the measure oregon connection a discount if you tin wage thing upfront. You tin besides petition a nary involvement outgo program to dispersed the outgo retired implicit time. If this feels overwhelming, a aesculapian billing advocator tin help. The Alliance of Professional Health Advocates, astatine aphadvocates.org, tin link you with professionals who reappraisal bills and negociate connected your behalf.
Find programs
Because you precocious mislaid coverage, it is besides worthy checking whether you suffice for Medicaid, particularly if your income has dropped. You tin use done Healthcare.gov oregon your authorities Medicaid office.
Another adjuvant instrumentality is BenefitsCheckUp.org, from the National Council connected Aging, which tin constituent you to programs that assistance little wellness attraction and medicine costs.
Get support
You bash not person to grip this connected your own. There are respective trusted organizations that connection escaped oregon low-cost help. The Patient Advocate Foundation (patientadvocate.org) provides lawsuit absorption services and tin assistance you find fiscal assistance. The National Foundation for Credit Counseling (nfcc.org) offers nonprofit recognition counseling and guidance connected managing debt. You tin besides sojourn NeedyMeds.org to find programs that tin assistance little the outgo of prescriptions and different aesculapian expenses.
The astir important happening is to enactment sooner alternatively than later. Ignoring aesculapian bills tin pb to collections and added stress, but galore providers are consenting to enactment with you if you scope out.
Start by reviewing your bills, past research assistance programs and outgo options. With immoderate persistence, you tin often little what you beryllium and acceptable up a program that fits your budget. Medical indebtedness is common, adjacent among radical who had insurance, but it is often negotiable, and determination are existent resources disposable to assistance you done it.
Send your elder questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, oregon sojourn SavvySenior.org.
English (US)·