Health Care Costs
Health Care Costs
Your health is our focus, no matter your financial situation.
Health coverage can be complicated. That’s why we offer free assistance to help you apply for and get health coverage. We’ll tell you which programs you may qualify for, explain how they work, what it costs, and then help you apply. We also offer prompt-pay discounts and payment plans.
We help you get coverage so you and your care team can focus on your health.
Apply for financial assistance today!
Good Faith Estimate
Under the law, health care providers need to give patients who don’t have insurance, or who are not using insurance, an estimate of the bill for medical items and services.
- You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate for the total expected cost of any non-emergency items or services. This includes related costs like medical tests, prescription drugs, equipment, and hospital fees.
- Make sure your health care provider gives you a Good Faith Estimate in writing at least one (1) business day before your medical service or item. You can also ask your health care provider, and any other provider you choose, for a Good Faith Estimate before you schedule an item or service.
- If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you can dispute the bill.
- Make sure to save a copy or picture of your Good Faith Estimate.
For questions or more information about your right to a Good Faith Estimate, visit www.cms.gov/nosurprises or call (650) 573-2525.
Get an Estimate Now
Patients can use our self-service estimate tool to get an estimate of costs.
Click here to use our Self-Services Estimate Tool
The estimate will be based on the health insurance plan and the procedure(s) you select. The estimate will clearly show the estimated price of the procedure(s), your health coverage benefits, including deductible, co-insurance, and co-pay, plus your estimated out-of-pocket responsibility amount.
Disclaimer: Information provided is only an estimate and is not a guarantee of final billed charges. Final billed charges may vary from estimates for many reasons including the patient’s medical condition, unknown circumstances or complications, final diagnosis, and recommended treatment ordered by the provider. Insurance benefit information (where applicable) is based on information provided by your insurance company as of the date of this estimate. Benefits and eligibility are subject to change and are not a guarantee of payment.
If you need help, please call 650-573-2525.
Financial Assistance Policy
Our financial assistance policy explains our role and responsibilities as your healthcare provider. It also explains your role and responsibilities. Transparency is important when making financial decisions so our policy is detailed. If you have questions, we are happy to talk with you about our policy at any time. Just call 650-573-2525.
The policy covers
- Available financial assistance programs, how to qualify, and how we can help if you don’t qualify.
- How to apply, including documents needed and what kind of income is counted.
- How to appeal decisions related to your eligibility.
- Cost-sharing information for different services.
- Our billing and collection practices.
- How we handle fraud.
Top 4 things you must do
- Apply for financial assistance as soon as possible. You can apply for some programs after your visit, but the earlier you apply, the better.
- Provide all the personal and financial information requested by the deadline we give you.
- Tell us when things change (address, job, income, family size, etc.)
- Renew your coverage every year.
Read the full financial assistance policy
Financial Assistance Policy (English)
Política de Asistencia Financiera (Español)
Price Transparency
We publish our hospital Charge Description Master every year. It is a list of all the hospital procedures we offer and the costs.
Please note this data does not reflect out-of-pocket costs for insured patients. The data also does not reflect all of the discounts for which uninsured patients may be eligible.
946000532-sanmateomedicalcenter_standardcharges.xlsx
* The prices listed in the San Mateo Medical Center Charge Description Master are effective October 2023 and may change at any time.
No Surprise Billing
Surprise billing happens when a patient gets care from a provider who is not in their health plan’s network. We are not a network provider for any commercial insurance health plans. If you are seeking non-emergency care at San Mateo Medical Center, you will be asked to sign the consent form below to waive federal protections and pay more for out-of-network care. You can choose to get non-emergency care from a provider or facility in your health plan’s network, which may cost you less.
Open Payments Database
The federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act requires detailed information about payment and gifts of value worth more than ten dollars ($10) from manufacturers of drugs, medical devices, and biologics to physicians and teaching hospitals be made available to the public. You can search a federal database for payments made to physicians and teaching hospitals by visiting this website: https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov.
San Mateo County Health has policies that strictly govern how our organization interacts with drug manufacturers and others we do business with, including prohibiting gifts of any value.