In this week's episode, we are looking at how to find grants to pay for medical bills. https://www.balancedfi.com/grants-to-pay-medical-bills/ The American healthcare system isn’t just un-user-friendly, it’s very expensive. Grants and financial assistance can help you avoid financial hardship or even bankruptcy. This episode covers where to find grants and other assistance, how to negotiate with medical providers, and how to organize everything to stay sane.
Welcome to the Balanced FI Podcast, episode 31 - How to Find Grants to Pay Medical Bills
The American healthcare system isn’t just un-user-friendly, it’s very expensive. Grants and financial assistance can help you avoid financial hardship or even bankruptcy.
This episode covers where to find grants and other assistance, how to negotiate with medical providers, and how to organize everything to stay sane.
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RESOURCES:
Read: How to Find Grants to Pay Medical Bills
Sign up: Money Makeover Challenge
Resource: I Can’t Afford Mental Health Care: How to Find Good Care That Fits in Your Budget
Resource: The Ultimate Guide to Appealing Health Insurance Denials
Resource: Social Security Disability Benefits
Resource: United Healthcare Children’s Foundation
Resource: 11 Organizations That Will Help You Pay Your Medical Bills
Resource: OneMain Financial: How to Pay for Medical Supplies You Need
SOURCES:
Source: 'I live on the street now': how Americans fall into medical bankruptcy
📍 📍 Hey there, this is episode 31 of the Balance Five podcast. How to find grants to pay medical bills. Welcome to the Balance Five podcast, where we talk about balancing intentional debt payoff, saving money, and actually living your life. I'm your host, Raelia, small business owner, wife, girl mom, non profit co founder, and money nerd.
This is an audio version of the Balanced Five blog, because I know how hard it is to find time to sit down and read literally anything. Instead, you can get quick bits of money knowledge on the go. I want to help you learn to control your money, instead of letting your money control you. Let's get started.
Hello, and welcome back to the Balanced Five podcast. My break from podcasting was a little longer than expected, but my excuse plays into today's topic perfectly. My youngest daughter brought home a virus from preschool. And infected me, and her sister, and then she recovered quickly, which means I had to deal with a hyper two year old while sick.
My older daughter wasn't as lucky. She was hospitalized twice since she has existing medical conditions. And part of my illness was a sore throat and a weird voice. I still don't feel 100%, but I'm good enough to record an episode.
Weirdness in my voice. I know it's not normal. But I can talk a lot better than I was able to even a week ago. And my six year old is the reason I know anything about paying for medical bills. Since before her birth, we've been managing multiple medical conditions. I quit my job to care for her. My husband's job has amazing health insurance, but it's still expensive to provide all the care that a complex kid needs.
I've been searching for and applying to grants for years now to make sure that she gets the best care we can access. Finding grants to pay medical bills is a great way to stay on top of mounting expenses when you have a sick or disabled loved one. Researching and applying for grants takes time, plus you have to manage the reimbursements or the payments later.
It's a lot of work. Over the last six years, I have literally spent weeks of my time trying to find ways to afford my daughter's medical expenses. I deal with our health insurance company, multiple medical providers, and the various grants that may be able to help. Just know that's It's not an easy process.
You need to be organized and persistent, but it is possible to reduce your out of pocket costs for medical treatments. If you can afford the expenses please pay your bills and leave grants for those who are less fortunate. On the other hand, there's no shame in seeking assistance when it's needed.
I've been there and I'm still there. According to a 2019 study, over 500, 000 bankruptcy cases were filed due to medical bills. I'm sure that number will increase in the aftermath of COVID 19. Applying for grants to pay for medical bills might not be enough to stave off bankruptcy, but assistance is an option for a lot of people.
There are ways to make medical care more affordable, especially mental health or medical equipment. Often, though, you'll just have to pay the amount that you're charged. But don't give up yet. Start searching for grants to pay medical bills early. Some grants are only offered before the cost is incurred, which honestly is annoying.
That means that you have to plan ahead enough to allow for processing time when applying, plus you need to understand how that specific grant works. Now, I know it's not always possible to plan ahead medically, but it does pay off when you can do start looking for financial assistance as soon as a scheduled surgery is booked, to ensure that you have time to get everything done.
Use your health insurance first, though. Assuming that you have health insurance, always use your health insurance first. When beginning the process of making a big medical purchase, contact your health insurance company first. Simply getting a pre authorization may be enough to ensure coverage, but skipping that step will likely result in a denied claim.
You need to work with your medical provider's office too and go out of your way to be friendly and kind to the office staff. They're the ones who are doing all the work to get your bills covered. When an initial insurance claim is denied, appeal it following your health insurance company's process and make sure to pay attention to the deadlines.
Even if that first appeal is denied, you can appeal again. Request documentation from the insurance company regarding benefits for the specific purchase that you're seeking coverage for and then repeat their own words back to them in your appeal. Show how the policy specifically applies to your situation.
Dealing with health insurance denials can be a long and arduous process, trust me, I know. So go into it prepared for a long fight. I hope you'll be pleasantly surprised at the ease of your experience, but you should expect the worst. For profit companies don't want to spend more than they have to. And health insurance is definitely for profit.
Next, look for grants to pay your medical bills. There are many nonprofits that offer assistance for medical expenses, but finding them will take some research on your part. If you're looking for funding for a child patient, make sure to include pediatric in your Google searches. I've found many options for grants to pay pediatric medical bills, but adult medical bills seem more difficult to cover, at least in my experience.
Children and the elderly seem to be well covered by government programs and charities, but younger and middle aged adults are not so lucky. Use state specific grants to pay medical bills. Utilizing grants that are specific to your state or town to pay medical bills increases your chances of a successful application since the applicant pool is smaller.
Start with a Google search. You may need to try out a variety of search words, but eventually you will find something. Try the following search terms paired with your state's name. Grants for medical bills. Funding for medical bills. How to pay for medical bills. Medical financial assistance. Financial assistance for medical bills.
Assistance for medical bills. Medical non profit. Pediatric or elderly medical assistance. Pediatric or elderly assistance with medical bills. I know a lot of those are repetitive, but just changing a couple words can really change your search outcomes. You should also check the website for your state's Department of Health.
The exact name of the department may vary, but for example, Montana's department is called the Department of Public Health and Human Services. State sponsored programs should be listed there, or you can call the department and ask for assistance. Programs vary from state to state, but with any luck you'll be able to reach a helpful and knowledgeable employee.
In my experience, state departments are really hit or miss. Some are staffed by passionate, knowledgeable people who just want to help, and other departments employ people who are just going through the motions. Good luck. Ask local organizations about grants to pay medical bills. Due to my daughter's diagnosis, she qualified for Part C, the government sponsored Birth to Three Assistance Program.
In our state, it isn't a robust program, but her caseworkers were able to connect me with grants over the years, and that's really the main benefit I got from that program. Local non profits may also offer grants to pay medical bills or have connections to a group that could help you. I've applied to more than one state specific grant offered by non profits in my local area.
Smaller organizations usually offer smaller grants, but anything helps when you're facing huge medical bills. Find the diagnosis's website. So start your search for a grant to pay medical bills by looking for a foundation or association just for that diagnosis. Most of the more common diagnoses and many of the less common ones have some sort of non profit organization dedicated to research, outreach, and education.
You should start with that foundation or association. Try a portion of their website with names like Get Help, Participate, Apply Now, or something similar. Not every foundation offers grants to pay medical bills, but they may have an outreach coordinator who can help you find a funding source. Search Charity Navigator for grants pay medical bills.
Charity Navigator, and there's a link in the show notes, has a searchable database of non profits. You can use it to find an organization related to the specific diagnosis or the treatment or equipment that you are trying to fund. This research You can cut hours off of your process. It's a very good resource.
Next, research federal assistance. Don't get your hopes up for receiving federal assistance to pay medical bills, but definitely start the process if you're facing a chronic diagnosis. Those get expensive. Use the USA Grant Applications. There's a website called USA Grant Applications, there's a link in the show notes, but it can connect you to potential grants to help pay medical bills.
It also lists business, housing, and education grants, so it is a great place to start the search. I haven't personally used this website, but it looks pretty comprehensive and helpful, even if you're not looking for medical grants. Social Security So it can take years and multiple applications and denials to be able to receive social security disability benefits.
There are complex, nonsensical rules that you need to follow. Sometimes applicants even involve a lawyer to the help that they need. Social Security Disability Insurance, which is called SSDI, is for those who have worked and paid through into the system. Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, supports people with disabilities who haven't paid in enough or at all.
If you have a child with a chronic diagnosis, they would be covered under SSI. Adults who have previous work history would be covered under SSDI. Medicaid. Medicaid is the government provided health insurance, quote unquote, for lower income or disabled younger people. It's administered by each state.
You would have to contact your state department of health to see if you qualify and how to apply. That's Medicaid. Medicare is the government provided health insurance for people over 65 or disabled younger people. So you do have to contact your state to figure out what you qualify for. Veteran benefits.
The U. S. Department of Veteran Affairs administers medical benefits for qualified veterans. There are more restrictions on which providers you can see, but if you qualify, you should at least look into VA health care. I would hope that it's affordable and is staffed by qualified professionals.
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Remember to set up your tech while searching for grants to pay bills. So I highly recommend investing in a pdf writer slash creator software product to streamline the process a bit. I personally use FI. Adobe Acrobat DC for my business, so I also use it for personal reasons. Submitting everything is when PDF keeps things organized.
I keep all of my digital files on Google Drive with a hierarchy of folders. Organization is key to finding your documents later. Giving documents descriptive and dated names helps a lot. I usually name documents with the date first and then a detailed description. For example, I would call an EOB or Explanation of Benefits from June 2021.
21. 06 Provider EOB for PT. This allows me to sort by date or search for the specific keyword. So if I'm looking for an EOB or a physical therapy related EOB, I can find it easily. If you don't have access to a scanner or fax, don't worry. There are many free scanning apps for smartphones. And once you have created a PDF, you can fax it for free using a website like FaxZero.
Make sure to pay attention to the requirements for the grant that you're applying to. If it requires a fax and you send a letter, you'll be rejected. Emailing a Word document instead of PDF might get your application deleted. So be careful about what you do. Bonus tip. Talk to your provider's billing department.
Although this isn't, technically a grant to pay medical bills, many hospitals and clinics offer financial assistance. The process and requirements vary from provider to provider, so you'll need to call the billing department at your specific doctor's office. Questions to ask about financial assistance.
Do you offer a cash payment discount? If you have the money in the bank and you can get a good discount by paying on time or early, do it. It is amazing. A great way to save money. 2. Is my account eligible for assistance? 3. Does the application have income limits? 4. Are there residency requirements? And 5.
What can I expect if I am approved for assistance? So this could be a payment plan, a percentage off the balance owed, or access to grant funds. I included number four, the residency requirements, because I didn't ask that question. My daughter gets specialty medical care in a different state, and so when we were facing a big bill for one of her more expensive procedures, I applied for financial assistance.
I filled out All the paperwork, and it was a lot, only to find out that their financial assistance program only applies to people who are residents of that state. So nobody told me that we didn't even qualify because we live in a different state and they just let me go ahead and fill out all that paperwork.
So learn from my mistake and ask questions ahead of time. Ask about payment plans too. If you don't qualify for assistance or you don't want to do the work of applying, at least ask about setting up a payment plan. Most hospitals will let you make small payments at 0 percent interest for long stretches of time.
Obviously, it's best financially to pay off your debts as soon as you can. When things are tight though, paying 25 per month toward a huge medical bill will keep you from being sent to collections. So you're not making a lot of progress. on that bill, but it will protect your credit score and ease your cash flow problems by, just starting that conversation with the provider's office.
Ask about the payment plans. Do you have a favorite grant to pay medical bills? I have had good luck with the United Healthcare Children's Foundation grants for my daughter. I usually apply for one each year and we have been able to offset a lot of our costs that way. There are more resources linked in the show notes and the blog post that goes with this episode too.
To recap, health insurance is not going to cover all of your medical expenses, especially if you have expensive bills. If you're struggling to pay those bills, there are many grants out there, though. It's not easy to get the money, though. You have to find a grant, do the work of applying, and hope that you're accepted.
So it is a lot of paperwork and kind of administrative tasks. What should you do next? Just start researching. I linked multiple resources, so you do have a starting point at least. Thank you for listening to this episode. If you enjoy the Balance Phi podcast, I'd be so grateful if you left us a review on iTunes or told a friend.
As always, you can head to balancedfi. com to connect with me and stay in touch. I'm on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter at balancedfi. Until next time, stay intentional and look for balance.