Note: This aidpage was started as a comment on "Aidpage of Erin5"

I never thought that I would be doing this... I am a teacher. I married about 2 years ago and became an instant wife and mother of a 5 year old (now 6) and a 1 year old (now 2). The children had been on Medicaid (under their mother's care) - while I was in the process of getting them on my insurance. During that time, our little girl was abused by her biological mother's boyfriend during a visitation. We picked her up and saw her swollen eye - bruised black and blue - and immediately contacted police and got medical attention. A few weeks later- we had custody of the children - the mother abandoned them (along with her abusive boyfriend) and is now living in Mexico. We are blessed to be able to care for the children now. That said, unknown to us, the childrens' medicaid coverage was not renewed by their mother. It expired in May - and the abuse took place in August. A CT scan, MRI, x-rays and all of the hospital bills from that terrible night left us with 3 bills. One for $1672, one for $573 and one for %375. We have worked with the social worker at the hospital - with the government programs -- telling them that the kids no longer need to be supported by the government program - because I have them on my insurance. We simply asked that the incident that occurred during the lapsed Medicaid coverage be taken care of. They told me - among other things, that I make too much money for help - that they can't do anything because the mother didn't renew the coverage. Sometimes, I do not understand the system. The woman in front of me in line just took in 7 children from her niece who became incarcerated. She told me about how she was getting emergency childcare and funding from the government for these 7 children. God bless her for doing that. It's just that...I feel like we are doing our best - trying to be responsible - and somehow our government doesn't reward that. The kids could still apply for Medicaid - as I do not have custody and the mother has low income. But I'm not asking for that. I saw a woman on television pay $40,000 worth of credit card debt using these online methods. I feel like I am begging and I guess I have to be humble enough to admit that I am aksing for help. I am. If anyone knows how I can solve this - please let me know. Like I said, I don't know how these things work - if you're just supposed to come out and ask for money or what - - but I need some help. We'll see if it works. thanks for reading. -Erin5