Linda Smeal of Elizabethtown received the best birthday present ever. Months after her extended 
hospitalization at Lancaster General, she and her husband were extremely concerned about paying her significant medical bills. They had insurance, but her bills exceeded what insurance would cover.
Lancaster General’s Patient Financial Services office contacted Smeal about establishing a payment plan to address the outstanding balance. Linda’s husband explained that they did not have the resources to pay. Linda could no longer work due to her medical condition. Despite postponing his retirement, he would have to work for a very long time just to pay the bills.
The Smeals provided Lancaster General with the necessary documents to apply for financial assistance. In the meantime, the couple was considering selling their home because they could not think of any other way to raise money. Linda cried and worried a lot.
“We’ve worked hard all our lives. We were afraid we were going to lose our home,” she said.
Then, on her birthday, Linda received a call from a financial counselor at Lancaster General. “She said, ‘I have some good news for you,’ and I said, ‘I could use some good news right now,’” Linda recalled. “She told me that all my bills were paid in full. I cried and cried. It was such a burden lifted from us. And she didn’t even know it was my birthday.”
When considering the Smeal’s income in relation to the Federal Poverty Level, as well as their assets such as money in the bank, they qualified for full financial assistance. Lancaster General does not consider a family’s primary residence or designated retirement savings to be assets that could be used to pay for hospital bills.
“I am so very grateful, I just don’t know how to put it in words,” said Smeal.