Florida Medical Bills and Medical Debt

Can I get my bill reduced in Florida?

Florida has no state charity-care law. Nonprofit hospitals must follow the federal rules, and each hospital has its own policy: ask for it and for the application.

Is my debt too old in Florida?

Kind of agreement	Time limit to sue
Written contract	5 years
Open account	4 years
Oral (spoken) agreement	4 years
Medical debt (set by statute)	3 years

A lawsuit to collect medical debt for services from a hospital, surgery center or other facility licensed under chapter 395 must be filed within 3 years. For other debts: an action on a written contract must be filed within 5 years; an action on a contract not founded on a written instrument, including store accounts, within 4 years.

What can restart the clock

A promise to pay, or an acknowledgment of, a debt that is already past the time limit counts only if it is in writing and signed by you.

When the clock starts

For medical debt from a chapter 395 facility, the 3 years run from the date the facility refers the debt to a third party for collection.

Law: Fla. Stat. 95.11(2)(b), (3)(j), (4); Fla. Stat. 95.04

A time limit to sue can differ by kind of agreement, and when it starts and what restarts it can differ; a court decides.

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Can they sue me or report it in Florida?

Credit reports

Partial limit

Reporting you to a credit bureau is an extraordinary collection action. A hospital or surgery center may not do it (or other such actions) before it checks whether you qualify for financial assistance and decides any application, before it sends you an itemized statement or bill, during a billing grievance or an insurance claim appeal, before it bills your insurer and the insurer decides the claim, within 30 days after it notifies you in writing by certified mail or another traceable method that collection will start, or while you negotiate the final bill in good faith or keep to a payment plan with the facility.

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Waiting rules

Before a hospital or surgery center sells your debt, reports you to a credit bureau, delays or denies needed care over unpaid bills covered by its financial assistance policy, or takes legal action (lien, foreclosure, bank account seizure, lawsuit, arrest or wage garnishment), it must: make reasonable efforts to check whether you qualify for financial assistance and decide any application; send you an itemized statement or bill; wait while a billing grievance or an insurance appeal is pending; bill your insurer and let it decide the claim; and wait 30 days after notifying you in writing, by certified mail or another traceable method, that collection will start. It may not take these steps while you negotiate the final bill in good faith or keep to a payment plan with the facility.

Liens on your home

For a hospital or surgery center bill, placing a lien on your property or foreclosing on your home is an extraordinary collection action that the facility may take only after meeting all of the conditions above.

Wage garnishment

Wage garnishment for a hospital or surgery center bill is an extraordinary collection action that may happen only after the conditions above are met. Under Florida's general rule, if you are a head of family (you provide more than half the support of a child or other dependent), all your disposable earnings up to $750 a week are exempt from garnishment, and earnings above $750 a week are exempt unless you agreed otherwise in writing. Exempt wages stay protected in a bank account for 6 months if they can be traced.

Bank account

In a lawsuit on a debt for services from a hospital or surgery center licensed under chapter 395, your interest in one motor vehicle (up to $10,000 in value) is protected from garnishment and other legal process, and so is up to $10,000 of other personal property if you do not claim or receive Florida's homestead exemption.

Selling the debt

Selling your debt is an extraordinary collection action. The 30-day written notice rule does not apply to a sale if the contract says the debt will not carry interest or fees, the buyer will not take extraordinary collection actions, and the debt will be returned to the facility if the buyer finds you qualify for financial assistance.

Law: Fla. Stat. 395.3011; Fla. Stat. 222.11; Fla. Stat. 222.26

Surprise bills and ambulance bills in Florida

State law

Florida balance billing protections

Law: Fla. Stat. 627.64194 for insurance policies; 641.3154 and 641.513 for HMOs; Fla. Stat. 641.3154; Fla. Stat. 641.513

Which plans it covers

Individual and group health insurance policies issued in Florida by authorized insurers (PPO and EPO plans), and HMO plans licensed in Florida.

What it adds

If you have a Florida insurance policy and get covered emergency services at a hospital, surgery center or urgent care center from an out-of-network provider, you owe only your copay, coinsurance and deductible.

Ground ambulance

The state protects you

If you are in a Florida HMO, the HMO must cover emergency care, including prehospital transport, without prior authorization, and when the HMO is responsible for paying for a covered service, the provider (including an out-of-network ambulance) may not bill or try to collect from you for it, other than your HMO copayment.

Law: Fla. Stat. 641.3154; Fla. Stat. 641.513(1)(a), (2); Fla. Stat. 627.64194

Law: Fla. Stat. 627.64194; Fla. Stat. 641.3154; Fla. Stat. 641.513

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Itemized bills and price estimates in Florida

Florida law gives you a right to an itemized bill within 7 days.

After you leave a hospital or surgery center, it must give you, if you ask, an itemized statement or bill in plain language within 7 days after discharge or after your request, whichever is later. It must list each service and expense by date and provider with unit prices, identify any facility fee, show what is paid, pending with insurance or owed by you, list drugs by name, and not use categories like "other" or "miscellaneous." It must show the phone number of the facility's patient liaison for billing disputes. The facility must make records to check your bill available within 10 business days of your request, free (it may charge its usual copy fee), and must answer billing questions within 7 business days. It may not take extraordinary collection actions before sending you an itemized statement or bill.

Law: Fla. Stat. 395.301(1)(e), (2), (4), (5); Fla. Stat. 395.3011(2)(b)

Price estimates

If you ask before non-emergency care, a hospital or surgery center must give you a written or electronic good faith estimate of its expected charges for your condition, within 7 business days after your request. The estimate must include information on the facility's financial assistance policy. Facilities must post on their website a consumer-friendly list of standard charges for at least 300 shoppable services, or a price estimator tool, and the estimated average payment and range for common service bundles.

Law: Fla. Stat. 395.301(1)(a)-(c)

Health coverage and Medicaid in Florida

Florida Medicaid (applications through the Department of Children and Families ACCESS program) is Florida's Medicaid program. Apply for it here:

Apply: Florida Medicaid (applications through the Department of Children and Families ACCESS program) · 850-300-4323

Where to complain in Florida

Hospital licensing: Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), Consumer Complaint, Publication and Information Call Center · 1-888-419-3456
A hospital or surgery center did not give you an itemized bill or estimate, or broke the state billing and collection rules.
Health insurance: Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Consumer Services · 1-877-693-5236
Your health insurer denied a claim or you got a surprise bill the state law protects you from.
Debt collectors: Florida Office of Financial Regulation · 850-487-9687
A consumer collection agency broke Florida's collection rules.

Free help in Florida

Free tools, letters and checklist

Good to know in Florida

Florida has a separate 3-year time limit to sue on hospital and surgery center debt, counted from when the facility refers the debt to a collector.
Law: Fla. Stat. 95.11(4)
A hospital or surgery center that does not give a required good faith estimate on time faces a $1,000 daily fine, up to $10,000 per estimate.
Law: Fla. Stat. 395.301(1)(c)

Changes in 2024–2026

July 1, 2024: H.B. 7089 added the 3-year time limit for hospital and surgery center medical debt, the $10,000 vehicle and personal property exemptions, the extraordinary collection action limits and new price transparency rules. Its changes to good faith estimates and to advanced explanations of benefits take effect only after federal rules on those topics are issued. Surgery centers had to post shoppable-service prices starting January 1, 2026. 2025: H.B. 547 changed the 30-day notice rule for certain debt sales.

Law: ch. 2024-183; 95.11(4); 222.26; 395.3011; 627.446; ch. 2025-98; 395.3011(2)(e)

Questions about medical bills in Florida

Can medical debt be reported to credit bureaus in Florida?

Florida law limits when some medical debt can be reported to credit bureaus. Reporting you to a credit bureau is an extraordinary collection action. A hospital or surgery center may not do it (or other such actions) before it checks whether you qualify for financial assistance and decides any application, before it sends you an itemized statement or bill, during a billing grievance or an insurance claim appeal, before it bills your insurer and the insurer decides the claim, within 30 days after it notifies you in writing by certified mail or another traceable method that collection will start, or while you negotiate the final bill in good faith or keep to a payment plan with the facility.

How long can a medical bill be collected or sued on in Florida?

A lawsuit to collect medical debt for services from a hospital, surgery center or other facility licensed under chapter 395 must be filed within 3 years. For other debts: an action on a written contract must be filed within 5 years; an action on a contract not founded on a written instrument, including store accounts, within 4 years.

Can a medical debt lead to wage garnishment or a lien on my home in Florida?

Wage garnishment for a hospital or surgery center bill is an extraordinary collection action that may happen only after the conditions above are met. Under Florida's general rule, if you are a head of family (you provide more than half the support of a child or other dependent), all your disposable earnings up to $750 a week are exempt from garnishment, and earnings above $750 a week are exempt unless you agreed otherwise in writing.

Am I protected from ground ambulance bills in Florida?

If you are in a Florida HMO, the HMO must cover emergency care, including prehospital transport, without prior authorization, and when the HMO is responsible for paying for a covered service, the provider (including an out-of-network ambulance) may not bill or try to collect from you for it, other than your HMO copayment. Florida's balance billing rule for PPO and EPO insurance policies covers emergency services in a facility, not ambulance rides, so it does not limit out-of-network ground ambulance bills under those policies.

Do I have a right to an itemized bill in Florida?

After you leave a hospital or surgery center, it must give you, if you ask, an itemized statement or bill in plain language within 7 days after discharge or after your request, whichever is later. It must list each service and expense by date and provider with unit prices, identify any facility fee, show what is paid, pending with insurance or owed by you, list drugs by name, and not use categories like "other" or "miscellaneous." It must show the phone number of the facility's patient liaison for billing disputes.

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