Hospital bill assistance programs in Kansas.
Lawrence Memorial Hospital Charity Program
Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Douglas County offers patients a charity program that offers people assistance with paying their medical and hospital bills. The hospital is on pace to spend about $15 million in charity care this year.
The charity care program is in effect free health care for those who truly can’t afford to pay for their hospital bills.
There are several types of free health care that the hospital provides, and it runs the gamut, which includes surgeries, laboratory tests, oncology care, and regular check ups.
Often those patients who do qualify for the financial assistance program are referred by Health Care Access, which is a health care clinic for uninsured Douglas County residents, or many people are also receiving the care through the emergency room.
There are some conditions to qualify for the assistance program, and people need to meet Federal Income Poverty Guidelines. For example, a family of four with income of $31,800, or 150 percent of the FIPG, is eligible for a 50 percent discount off their hospital bills.
However, even if someone’s income is above 200 percent of the federal level, Lawrence Memorial Hospital also offers all patients a payment plan option that has no interest added, which will allow patients to make regular monthly payments on their medical bills.
In addition, LMH always recognizes that hospital bills at times can be catastrophic, and if a patient’s bill is more than half of their annual household income, various discounts may be applicable for up to 90 percent of their bill. These discounts provide yet another option for patients.
Last, but not least, some of these patients may end up qualifying for either state or federal government assistance, however note that there is a backlog for Medicaid applications. In this case the hospital may or may not be reimbursed for their care, but they will still do what they can to assist.
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