[devishard]

Yes, the waiving of medical fees sometimes happens, but "financial need" is a pretty high bar to meet. I was saddled with around $10K of medical debt after a bike accident a few years back when I was unemployed because a) I had made $70K the previous year and b) they don't consider student loan payments when calculating income. And that was with insurance (a high deductible combined with some things not being covered because they were out-of-network; the accident occurred on a different coast from any in-network-provider).