The numbers hospitals measure you against.

The 2026 poverty guidelines (contiguous US)

Alaska's guideline is higher (household of 1: $19,950; add $7,100 per person) and so is Hawaii's (household of 1: $18,360; add $6,530 per person). Each additional person beyond 10 adds $5,680 in the contiguous states. Source: 2026 HHS Poverty Guidelines, Federal Register, January 2026 (2026 HHS Poverty Guidelines (Federal Register, January 2026)). Hospitals may use the guidelines in effect on your service dates — a bill from 2025 is measured against the 2025 table.

What the percentages mean in practice

• 200% — the most common free-care line in hospital policies: at or under it, the bill is written off. For a family of four in 2026, that's $66,000 a year — a working family's income, not destitution.
• 300% — the most common end of the discount scale, and the free-care line at Washington's large hospitals and (from 2027) in Delaware law.
• 400% — California's and New York's discount ceiling; Oregon's statutory discount ladder also reaches 400%.
• Above the lines — state law goes quiet, but hardship and catastrophic policies inside hospital FAPs often don't. See the checker result for the "above" path.

States that wrote their own lines into law

Federal law sets no percentage — the hospital's policy does. These states set floors by statute, regulation, or binding state program (the hospital's policy can be more generous, never less). Every figure links to the state page with its citation and full text.

Every other state's page is in the state index — where no state line exists, the page says so plainly and shows the federal floor and the hospital-policy route instead.

How hospitals measure your income (the traps)

• Which months? Policies measure differently: last year's tax return, the last 3 months, the last 30 days. If your income just fell, a backward-looking measure hurts you — New Jersey's rule (use whichever period is lowest) is the model; where no rule exists, ask for current-income review in writing.
• Whose income? The household's, per the policy's definition. A spouse's income counts at most hospitals; an adult child's may or may not.
• Gross, not net. The guidelines are compared against income before taxes in most policies.
• Assets are a second test at some hospitals — and restricted by law in CA, MD, NJ and elsewhere. The state pages carry the details.