Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Once a patient qualifies as indigent under Mississippi’s Indigent Care Law, a hospital may not charge or collect any additional payment from that patient.
This guide is limited to the cited Mississippi Indigent Care Law source and its stated scope.
What changes in Mississippi
- No hospital may charge, accept, or retain any additional payment from or on behalf of a qualified indigent patient for hospital services rendered.
- The prohibition does not block lawful payments from governmental or other public sources, or from philanthropic or charitable sources with an impersonal interest in the patients involved.
- This is a hard billing prohibition tied to indigent status under the state’s Indigent Care Law, not merely a disclosure or notice requirement.
Where this rule stops
The section quoted here does not itself define the income test for indigent status; a reader needs to confirm how their hospital or county determines indigent status before relying on the prohibition.
How to verify before you apply
- Identify the hospital or facility covered by the source and obtain its current policy.
- Ask for the current written policy and application instructions.
- Compare the policy with the official source below before relying on any threshold, discount, or deadline.
Related hospital-assistance guides
Primary source
Read Miss. Code Ann. § 41-7-35. Verify the current official text and the facility’s current policy before acting; this is a source-backed planning guide, not individualized legal advice.