May 31, 2019, 2:06 PM

@Auspice Check now what your local hospital policy is on payment/income. Ours had a whole 'oh, if you earn under X, you pay nothing, we'll pick up what insurance doesn't!' -- well, that just meant 'you can apply for Medicaid and if they approve you, you pay us nothing'. That was a lovely surprise no one ever bothered to explain at all until bills started showing up. Fun fun.

I know you are not in the world's friendliest state re: Medicaid, so please check this. I don't mention this to make you more anxious, though I know it'll not be easy to hear, but having gone through this and had an epic freakout too late to do anything about it but fork out piles of cash we don't have, check their policies and the fine print first so you're prepared.

Hopefully, you will never, ever need this information -- but I'd feel like a jerk if I didn't give you a heads-up to check into this ahead of time. Depending on your insurance and whatever hospital network is there, whatever they do may end up being a huge load off your mind instead, and that'd be a good thing to know, too.