If my tone seems a little too clinical, please forgive me. The last thing I want to do is come across too enthusiastic, or too excitable, suggesting that what I’m about to tell you is too good to be true. It’s true, all right. Just hang in there while I spell out the facts as clearly and accurately as possible.

NOTE: This has nothing to do with healthcare.gov, the Affordable Healthcare Act or “Obamacare.”

Truth be told, I’ve been a hospital patient only three times. Once when I was born. Once with severe chest pain. And once with acute bronchitis. For some reason if you can’t breathe very well, they rush you to the front of the line. I was in and out in 90 minutes. A few weeks later I got the bill. More than a thousand dollars for the brief ambulance ride. A couple thousand more for ER. I was lucky. I had good health insurance.

But what if you’re like my friend Liam? Or what if you’re like my friend Edwardo? The truth is, millions of Americans face huge hospital bills every year. All told, we spend more than $2.5 trillion annually on healthcare in this country. That’s nearly $8,500 every year for every man, woman, and child. That’s a lot of money.

So what happens if you’re like my friend Natasha? Her brother was in a recreational accident and rushed to the closest hospital. They saved his life. Twenty days later he was released. The total cost for those twenty days? More than $456,000. Imagine getting that stack of bills in the mail. What would you do?

The fact is, you may or may not have to pay a large portion of your family’s next catastrophic hospital bill.

So, what’s the “secret”?

Here’s what I have learned.

America has slightly more than 2,900 community hospitals. The IRS recognizes 59 percent of them as non-profit. This includes the majority of hospitals with religious names such as Adventist, Beth, Holy, Providence, Sacred, Saint, Samaritan, Sinai and Sister.

Why are those facts important? Because non-profit hospitals, especially with religious names, have a very important secret you need to know.

These hospitals often have a benevolence fund, sometimes overseen by a related charitable foundation. Whether a fund or foundation, they are required to give away a certain amount of money every year. Sometimes those funds are invested in medical research, including buildings, equipment, and staff. Other funds are used to help anyone who finds it difficult, if not impossible, to pay his or her hospital bill.

Of course, you won’t read about this anywhere else, let alone on the hospital’s website. That is, unless you’d like to donate to the fund or foundation. (Just make sure it’s used to help needy patients!)

The fact remains that many benevolent fund or foundation directors are looking for ways to help deserving individuals.

Just don’t wait for them to call you.

Instead, do your homework and find out the names of the non-profit hospitals in your area that have benevolent funds or charitable foundations and are accepted by your health insurance plan. And then insist that everyone in your family memorize the names of those hospitals “just in case.”

I hope you and your loved ones don’t see the inside of an ambulance or hospital for many years to come. But if that happens, wait five or six weeks until all the bills arrive, so you can figure out how much you owe.

It might be nearly $6,000.

It might be slightly over $19,000.

Or, it might be $456,200.

Whatever the amount, don’t panic.

Instead, write a brief one-page letter addressed to your hospital’s benevolence fund or charitable foundation.

Here’s a prototype…

______________________________________________________

<date>

<name of fund or foundation>

<address>

<city, state, zip>

Hello <name of fund or foundation>,

My name is <your name>. My <relation>, <his or her full name>, <age>, was <in a serious accident?>, sustained <life-threatening injuries?>, and was admitted to <name of hospital> on <day of week>, <date>. After a tremendous amount of work <to save his life?>, and make it possible for him <to keep living?>, <his or her first name> was discharged on <day of week>, <date>. From that date until now I have served as <his or her> caregiver. Although <his or her first name> <still can’t go back to work?>, I can’t thank everyone enough that <he or her> has made it this far. As you can imagine, however, the hospital and other medical bills have become a huge burden. If there is any way that <name of fund or foundation> would be willing and able to cover even a portion of <his or her first name’s> medical expenses, it would mean the world to <him or her>, to me, and to hundreds of other people who know and care <and have been praying for him or her?>. If you need any documentation, or have any other reason to contact me, my information follows below.

Sincerely yours,

<your full name>

<address>

<city, state, zip>

<email>

<phone>

______________________________________________________

When I helped Natasha write a version of this letter, addressed to the charitable foundation connected with the hospital that saved her brother Phil’s life, she and Phil’s girlfriend, Valerie, were still numb over the $456,200 in medical bills that had come in the mail.

Natasha wondered, Why waste the time sending such a letter?

Valerie wondered, Will this really do any good?

Believe me, I didn’t take the situation lightly.

If the foundation covered a quarter million dollars, Phil still would be bankrupt. Ditto if they covered a third of a million dollars.

But why not ask and then wait to see what happens?

I still remember getting the phone call from Natasha. She had just gotten off the phone with Valerie, who had just gotten off the phone with the charitable foundation.

The foundation had called to let Valerie know that Phil owed only $200.

“You mean $200,000, correct?” Valerie asked.

“No.”

“You mean $200 a month?”

“No. Just $200.”

Valerie and Phil were in shock. So were Bob and Natasha.

When Natasha called and told me the news I reached for a chair, sat down, and shed some happy tears.

It’s not every season one gets to witness a miracle of this magnitude.

If and when you face a huge hospital bill, and find yourself hard pressed to pay it, I strongly urge you to write your own version of the letter above. Don’t get too emotional, and definitely don’t exaggerate. Just state the facts. Ask if they can help. Sign the letter. Then put it in the mail.

What if the fund or foundation turns you down? Write an almost identical letter asking them to reconsider.

What if they call and say “no” over the phone? Reiterate the facts and ask if they would please reconsider.

That’s what Maria did, over and over, until even I wondered, What’s the point?

“We simply can’t pay the bills,” Maria told me. “I have to try a couple more times.”

The next time the hospital’s benevolence fund director said no again.

I told Maria to forget it.

“No, I have to try one more time.”

She did and the director couldn’t have been more rude. Before she hung up, however, she told Maria that the hospital’s benevolence fund would cover the bill, after all.

What if Maria had taken my dismal advice and given up?

Of course, this “secret” doesn’t apply to for-profit hospitals, and this doesn’t work if they’ve already allocated a lot of their required financial distributions for the year.

But often, often, it works.

My only request? Please share this with your family and close friends. If you do, I guarantee some day you’ll get a huge “Thank you!” And later another. And later yet another.

I never get tired of hearing from friends who have done their homework, written their letter, sent it off, and a few weeks later received wonderful news.

Someday, that could be your experience too. In fact, the more you share this “secret,” the better. Please start today!

David Sanford is an award-winning author and editor based in Portland, Oregon. www.linkedin.com/in/drsanford