#i really can't overstate how wretched and hopeless this has made me feel

[jimkirkachu]

I just spent 3 hours agonizing over the online application for government healthcare. Had to call an 800 number at one point, so had a panic attack about that. My application is submitted/"complete" but my "next step" is to wait for my state health department to contact me (the computer thinks I'm eligible for Medicaid even though I've done the state's eligibility check multiple times and know I don't qualify). So when they come back in a day or a week or a month (who knows??) and say I don't qualify for Medicaid (because I probably won't, but the marketplace won't let me sign up for a non-Medicaid plan now just in case), am I screwed for another calendar year because I forgot to enroll until the last day and it took more than 20 minutes for them to get back to me? I have no idea. Will I be able to get health insurance for 2021, just in case I end up getting covid or something and it's bad enough that I'm hospitalized and I don't want to *literally bankrupt* my entire family because I'm unemployed and uninsured and I would undoubtedly get served with a massive bill? I have absolutely no idea, because none of this is comprehensible to me at all and I feel like I have no control over anything in my life anymore. Thanks for all the stress, America.