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When you need a doctor and can’t pay
For anyone in the United States who is sick, hurt or out of medicine, with no insurance or no money for the visit, and for the people helping them. Where to go, the words to say, how to get covered, and what to do about a bill you can’t pay. Needing care you can’t afford is not a failure.
A word with a dotted line under it, like this, opens its official definition, quoted from a U.S. government glossary.
Right now
- Could it be an emergency? Call 911 or go to a hospital emergency room. The emergency room has to check you even if you have no insurance and no money.
- Swallowed or breathed in something harmful? Poison Help, 1-800-222-1222. Free and confidential, any hour.
- Too much to bear? Call or text 988, any hour.
- Not an emergency? Find a health center near you. What you pay depends on your income.
More help
- Have a visit coming up? Get ready for your appointment: one sheet with what to say and what to ask.
- Hard to speak in the room? Speak for me shows your words on the screen.
- Someone may have overdosed? What to do right now.
- Someone wants money up front to erase a medical bill or sign you up for coverage? Is this a scam?
- All our free tools and Get help now.
Other guides on this site that go with this page
Free to read. We chose these ourselves; no professional did. Each guide was written with AI and has not been reviewed by a professional. They are general information, not advice.
- When a medical bill is too much: what to check before you pay, the financial help nonprofit hospitals must offer, surprise bills, and debt collectors.
- When pain doesn’t go away: pain that has lasted for months: describing it so a doctor hears it, treatments that are not medicine, and what pain does to sleep and mood.
- When you want to quit smoking: quitting cigarettes: the free quitlines and text programs, quit-smoking medicines, cravings, and what to do after a slip.
- Applying for disability benefits: the two federal programs (SSDI and SSI), how to apply, and the appeals if you are denied.
- Pregnant, or with a new baby: the CDC’s urgent warning signs, health coverage, WIC and diapers, and your rights at work.
- For veterans, and the people beside them: the Veterans Crisis Line (dial 988, then press 1), VA health care, disability claims, and free accredited help.
- When it gets hard to hear: hearing that is fading: sudden hearing loss (an emergency), the signs, hearing aids with and without a prescription, what Medicare pays for, and what you can ask for.
- When your sight is fading: eyesight that is fading: the sudden changes that are an emergency, the eye exam, what Medicare pays for, free and low-cost eye care, vision rehabilitation and free audiobooks.
- When it’s your kidneys: your kidneys: who should be tested, what the two numbers mean, the pain relievers that can damage kidneys, dialysis, transplant, and Medicare at any age.
- When it’s HIV: HIV: the 72 hours after a possible exposure, testing, treatment and what “undetectable” means, the medicine that prevents it, your rights, and paying for care.
- When you’re leaving foster care: aging out of foster care: your transition plan, your papers, Medicaid until 26, staying or coming back, housing and money for school.
- When you’re losing health coverage: health coverage that is ending: the 60-day window for a Marketplace plan, COBRA, Medicaid renewals, turning 26, Medicare, and appeals.
- When you can’t afford your medicine: what to ask, the programs that help, and buying online safely: when you can’t afford your medicine: what to ask, generics, assistance programs, Medicare’s Extra Help, a plan that says no, and safe online pharmacies.
- When you can’t afford a dentist: where low-cost care is, what Medicaid and Medicare cover, and what should not wait: when you can’t afford a dentist: the signs that should not wait, dental schools, health centers, Medicaid and CHIP, what Medicare leaves out, dental plans, and VA dental care.
- When you can’t afford glasses or an eye exam: free and low-cost programs, what Medicare and insurance cover, and what should not wait: when you can’t afford glasses or an eye exam: the changes that should not wait, free and low-cost programs, what children are owed, what Medicare leaves out and covers, vision coverage for adults, and eye care through VA.
- When you have no ride to the doctor: Medicaid rides, what Medicare covers, VA rides and travel pay, paratransit, and who to call: when you have no ride to the doctor: the ride Medicaid covers and how to set it up, when Medicare pays for an ambulance, free rides and travel pay from VA, the federal paratransit rule, and who to call.
- When you can’t afford medical equipment: wheelchairs, walkers, oxygen and hospital beds, what Medicare and Medicaid cover, and where to borrow: when you can’t afford medical equipment: what Medicare counts as equipment, the question to ask a supplier first, how oxygen rental works, what Medicaid may not refuse outright, and the program in every state that lends and reuses devices.
- When you need help at home and can’t pay for it: home health care, aides, bathing and meals, what Medicare and Medicaid cover, and who to ask: when you need help at home and can’t pay for it: the home health care Medicare covers and the daily help it leaves out, the short deadline when an agency says your care is ending, what Medicaid must cover at home and may add, the VA programs, and the local agencies behind home-delivered meals.
- When it might be an STI: sexually transmitted infections (STIs): why there are often no symptoms, who should be tested and where it is free or low-cost, six common infections one by one, and the steps after a positive test.
- Birth control: finding what fits: birth control: every method and how well it works, emergency contraception and how many days you have, a missed pill, and getting it free or at low cost.
- I might be pregnant: the test, and the first steps: a possible pregnancy: when to test, how to read a faint line or a negative, the first steps after a positive, and care without insurance.
General information from people who care, not medical, legal or insurance advice. We can’t tell you what is wrong, whether something is an emergency, or whether you qualify for a program. If you think it might be an emergency, treat it as one. A doctor, the program itself or your state’s Medicaid office has the final word; when in doubt, ask them.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). The facts come from the government’s own pages (the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, HealthCare.gov, USAGov, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the National Institutes of Health, SAMHSA and VA), and the phone numbers and websites were checked on each service’s own site, in September 2026. Hours and rules change, so check with the service. This page saves nothing: no account, no cookies, nothing you tick is stored or sent, and no analytics (privacy). Scarlet Beast is not a government agency, a clinic or an insurer and can’t give out care, money or advice about your health. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].