Requiring hospitals to prescreen patients for financial assistance and automatically reduce medical bills, rather than saddling them with debt they can’t pay.
California Can Protect Patients
Health Care Costs Are Too Expensive!
The high cost of health care makes it hard for Californians to get care when they need it the most. Over 50% of Californians who are Black, people who speak Spanish, or low-income experience medical debt. In 2023, over a million Californians were unable to pay for basic necessities because of medical debt. Hospitals are legally required to offer financial help, but
getting support as a patient often means filling out a time-consuming and confusing financial request form that hospitals would then have to approve.
Here’s How AB 1312 Works:
- You go to your hospital for care.
- If you meet qualifying criteria, your hospital automatically checks if you qualify for financial assistance.
- Your hospital automatically applies any financial assistance and sends you the reduced hospital bill. Saving you time, stress, and money!
Critical Information
Hospitals will be required to automatically check if you qualify for financial assistance if you are: covered by Medi-Cal or Covered California;
uninsured; enrolled in programs like SNAP or WIC; participate in other means-tested programs; are experiencing homelessness; or if you will owe more than $500 for your visit.
If you qualify, hospitals will be required to automatically apply the financial assistance to your bill and notify you in writing to communicate if you qualify for financial assistance.
1 in 3 Californians have medical debt. If the available financial assistance was applied, patients could avoid being sent to collections and accruing medical debt.
California can do better! States like Oregon, Maryland and Illinois have passed laws to reduce medical debt and increase access to help pay for medical bills.
Questions? Contact us
Katie Van Deynze
Senior Policy and Legislative Advocate
Health Access California
kvandeynze@health-access.org
Omar Altamimi
Senior Legislative Advocate
California Pan-Ethnic Health Network
oaltamimi@cpehn.org
Kei Yamamoto
Senior Policy Engagement Manager
California Pan-Ethnic Health Network
kyamamoto@cpehn.org