Dan, 48, moved from the Midwest to Charlottesville to get treatment for a rare, often painful genetic ailment at the University of Virginia hospital. “I’m in the process of getting disability,” he says, speaking anonymously. “I have limited capacity for work. I’m still working, but it’s very part-time.”
In his efforts to obtain life-changing care, he’s getting help from a surprising source.
“UVA is covering all of my medical bills,” he says, “because right now I don’t have insurance. In medication alone, that’s more than $1,000 a month.” Dan was one of the nearly 20,000 patients in fiscal 2026 who paid less—or nothing at all—for care through UVA’s charity and indigent care programs…