Costs
What health care actually costs in New York City, what a hospital is legally allowed to charge you, and what to do when the bill arrives.
The price on a hospital bill in New York is rarely the amount anyone pays. An insurer pays a negotiated rate. Medicaid pays a set rate. An uninsured patient gets billed the list price — and then, under state law, frequently should not pay most of it.
That gap is what this section is about.
If a bill is already in your hands
Start here: hospital financial assistance. New York law requires every hospital in the state, including for-profit ones, to run a program. Below 200% of the federal poverty level, an uninsured patient may not be charged out-of-pocket costs at all. Between 201% and 300%, charges are capped at 10% of the Medicaid rate. Insured patients qualify when twelve months of bills exceed 10% of gross annual income.
Two rules decide most cases: immigration status may not be considered, and you can apply at any stage, including after the account goes to a collection agency.
Two tools do the arithmetic: the eligibility estimator and the bill reduction checker.
Then check the bill itself. Duplicate line items, services never received, a room charge for the day of discharge — how to read an itemized bill. If an out-of-network clinician treated you inside an in-network hospital, that is a surprise bill and the amount is not yours to pay.
If it already went to collections, the debt still has a ceiling and a process: medical debt in New York.
If the care hasn’t happened yet
The setting decides the bill more than the treatment does. An emergency room adds a facility fee for walking in the door; a hospital-owned urgent care often does too; an independent clinic usually doesn’t. What each setting bills.
You can get the price in advance. Hospitals must publish machine-readable files of their standard and negotiated charges, and uninsured patients are entitled to a written estimate before scheduled care. How to find the real number.
For specific procedures, we publish how the bill is constructed rather than invented price ranges: an ER visit, an MRI, childbirth.
By hospital
Large systems bill through multiple legal entities, and an approval at one does not cover another. What to ask, system by system: NYU Langone, Mount Sinai, NewYork-Presbyterian, Northwell, Montefiore.
Why we publish no price ranges
Most sites in this category print numbers like “an urgent care visit costs $150 to $300 in New York.” Those numbers are guesses dressed as data, and acting on them costs people money.
What we publish instead: how each bill is assembled, which charge comes from whom, what the law caps, and the exact sentences that get you a real quote from the specific facility you’re going to. That is less satisfying to read and considerably more useful at the counter.
The underlying fix
Bills of this kind are usually a coverage problem wearing a costume. If you are uninsured, the coverage section is the longer answer, and most of the programs there accept applications every month of the year.
Hospital Financial Assistance in New York: Who Pays Nothing
New York law bars hospitals from charging out-of-pocket costs below 200% of the poverty level and caps charges at 10% of the Medicaid rate up to 300%. How the law works and how to apply.
No Health Insurance in New York? What You Can Do This Week
A practical order of operations for uninsured New Yorkers: what to do today if you need care, and what to apply for this week so it doesn't happen again.
Do You Qualify for Free Hospital Care in New York?
Enter your household size and income to see where you fall against New York's hospital financial assistance thresholds. Runs in your browser; nothing is stored.
Can This Hospital Bill Be Reduced? Check Which Rule Applies
Enter your household size, income and total medical bills to see which New York rule limits what you can be charged — including the 10% rule for insured patients.
ER, Urgent Care or Telehealth in NYC: What Each Actually Costs
How the bill is built in each setting — facility fees, professional fees, labs billed separately — and how to find out the price before you're seen.
Surprise Medical Bills in New York: The Playbook
Out-of-network charges you never agreed to are limited by federal and New York law. How to recognize a surprise bill, what to say, and where to appeal.
Hospital Price Files: How to Find the Real Number
Hospitals must publish machine-readable files of their standard and negotiated charges. Where those files live, what is inside them, and how to use one before a planned procedure.
What It Costs
We do not publish invented price ranges. This section shows how each medical bill is assembled and how to get a real number before your visit.
Your Medical Bill Is Wrong More Often Than You Think
How to read an itemized hospital bill, the errors that repeat on it, and the exact wording that gets a charge reviewed in New York.
Medical Debt in New York: What Collectors Can and Cannot Do
How medical debt differs from consumer debt in New York, what to say when a collection agency calls, and when the case needs a free lawyer.