"Your generous reduction of my bill helped to lift the weight off my shoulders, which, in turn, has helped my recovery."

When I was diagnosed with cancer and my medical bills for treatment increased, my world was turned upside down. Today, I’m on my way to recovering. I wanted to say a very heart-felt thank you—not only for the excellent care your organization provided, but also for your compassion about my family’s financial situation.

Every day patients like this individual request—and receive—financial assistance for their medical expenses through Advocate Health Care’s charity care program. And just as Advocate provides medical care with a wholistic, individual approach, so too does its financial assistance program thoughtfully address each person’s unique needs and circumstances.

Each hospital has a charity care committee that evaluates and approves applications for assistance. Committees include representatives from various departments at that hospital, such as the medical and nursing staffs, finance, psychiatry, social work, mission and spiritual care, as well as the community at large. The makeup purposefully includes people with different backgrounds to ensure applications are considered from all perspectives.

"It is our hospital’s responsibility to try to understand our patients’ ability or difficulty in paying their bills," says the Rev. Lee Joesten, vice president of mission and spiritual care at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital and a long-time member of Lutheran General’s charity care committee. "We give each case that comes to us a great deal of consideration."

Under Advocate's charity care program, patients may apply for assistance with bills for hospital services, including amounts not covered by a state aid program. Advocate’s charity care policies, among the most compassionate in Illinois, provide assistance to individuals earning up to 400% of the federal poverty level ($82,500 for a family of four), and discounts of 60 to 100 percent. Throughout Advocate, over 99 percent of completed charity care applications are approved.

"The words of our patients helped through this process continue to touch us." says Joesten. "We know this means the world to them."