1. Agreeing to these terms
These terms are an agreement between you and The Medical Fairness Project, a California nonprofit (“we”, “us”). By using this website or submitting an application, you agree to them and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the service.
You must be 18 or older to agree to these terms. A parent or legal guardian may use the service for a child.
2. What we do
California’s Hospital Fair Pricing Act (Health & Safety Code §§127400–127446) requires hospitals to offer free or discounted care to eligible patients. We help you use it:
- We estimate whether your household income is under the qualifying limit.
- We read the charity care policy of the hospital that billed you.
- We prepare your application and send it to the hospital for you.
- We follow up with the hospital until there is a written decision, and help with an appeal if one is worthwhile.
We never charge you. We do not take a fee, a percentage of your savings, or payment of any kind for this service.
3. We do not provide medical advice
We are not a health care provider. Nothing on this site or from our staff is medical advice, a diagnosis, or a recommendation about treatment. Do not delay or avoid medical care because of a bill, or because of anything we tell you about one. If you have a medical emergency, call 911.
Federal and California law require hospitals with emergency departments to screen and stabilize anyone with an emergency medical condition, whether or not they can pay. Questions about your health or your treatment belong with your doctor.
4. We are not a law firm
We are not lawyers, and we do not provide legal advice or represent you in court. Helping you with an application does not create an attorney–client relationship. If you are being sued over a medical debt, or need advice about your legal rights, talk to a lawyer or a legal aid organization.
5. No guaranteed outcome
The hospital, not us, decides your application. Our eligibility check is an estimate based on what you tell us, not a decision. We cannot promise that your bill will be reduced or forgiven, by how much, or by when.
While your application is being considered, you are still responsible for the bill. If you receive a collections notice, a lawsuit, or anything with a deadline, tell us straight away and keep your own copies of everything.
6. What we ask of you
- Tell the truth. Give us accurate, complete information and real documents. A hospital can deny or reverse a decision based on false information, and misstating income on an application can have legal consequences.
- Apply only for yourself or someone you are allowed to act for, such as your child or a person who has authorized you.
- Answer us. Respond when we or the hospital ask for more information, and tell us if your income, household, or contact details change.
7. Permission to act for you
When you submit an application, you sign an authorization, by typing your name, that lets us send it and your documents to the hospital or physician group that billed you, and talk with them about your application and account. We send that signed authorization to the hospital with your application, and you can read and save a copy when you submit. If a hospital asks for its own authorization form as well, we will ask you to sign it. You can withdraw this permission at any time by contacting us, and we will stop.
This permission covers your charity care application and your account with that provider, and nothing more. We will not agree to a payment plan or settlement, make or promise a payment, or sign anything on your behalf without your specific approval first.
8. Using the site
Do not use this site to submit someone else’s information without their permission, to submit false information, to try to get into the staff area or our systems without authorization, or to disrupt the site for others.
The site includes information about hospitals’ financial assistance programs gathered from public sources. We work to keep it accurate, but policies change, and the hospital’s own current policy is what governs.
9. Disclaimers and limits of liability
We provide this service free of charge and “as is”. To the extent the law allows, we make no warranties about it, express or implied, and we are not liable for any indirect or consequential loss arising from your use of it, including a hospital’s decision on your application. This does not limit our responsibility for fraud, willful misconduct, gross negligence, or violation of law, or any other right you have that cannot be limited by law.
10. Stopping
You can stop using the service, and ask us to stop working on your application, at any time. We may stop working on an application if we cannot reach you, if information in it is false, or if we reasonably believe the service is being misused. We will tell you if we do. To have your information deleted, see the Privacy Policy.
11. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California.
12. Changes, notices, and contact
If we change these terms, we will post the new version here with a new effective date. Changes apply only from that date onward. If a change is significant and you have an open application, we will email you about it.
You agree that we may send you notices about these terms and your application electronically, by email or text, to the contact details you gave us.
Questions: MedicalFairnessProject@gmail.com or (925) 999-5020.
13. General
These terms and our Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between you and us about the service. If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest still applies. If we do not enforce a term right away, we have not given up the right to enforce it later.