Generally speaking, a creditor may not file a lawsuit to collect a debt from a debtor unless it does so within a certain number of years after the debt has been established. The state law specifying the number of years is called a statute of limitations because it limits the amount of time within which a creditor is able to file a lawsuit to collect a debt from a debtor. Once the statute of limitations has expired, a debtor has an absolute defense against any debt collection lawsuit that the creditor files.

If a hospital claims that you owe it money because you haven't paid all of your bill, and if it decides to sue you to collect that money, it must file its lawsuit to collect that money from you before the statute of limitations has expired. If it files a lawsuit against you after the statute of limitations has expired, and if you point out to the court that the statute of limitations has expired, the court is obligated to dismiss the lawsuit. In most cases the clock starts running on the number of years specified in the statute of limitations either on the date that the hospital bill was prepared or on the date on which you last sent a payment to the hospital, whichever is later. Every time you make a payment, the statute of limitations clock rewinds to zero and starts running again.

There are a couple of complicating factors when it comes to how statutes of limitations apply to hospital bills. First, there is no agreement as to exactly what a hospital bill is for purposes of debt collection. Some states may consider a hospital bill to be a written contract. Others may consider it to be an open account. Most don't address the question at all. Second, only one state -- Arkansas -- has a statute of limitations specifically for medical bills. Of the remaining states, some have one statute of limitations for written contracts and another for open accounts; others have a single statute of limitations for all civil actions involving money.

The following table shows the statutes of limitations for written contracts and for open accounts, by state. Some of the links lead directly to the listed statute; others lead to a table of contents or an index of statutes that can be used as the starting point from which to search for the listed statute. Only an attorney familiar with the laws of a particular state can provide advice as to which statute applies to hospital bills in that state.