get well soon your videos are great
I finished a course in business law last semester and I know for a fact that you are covered by your old plan for certain amount of time in between jobs. exactly how long I dont remember, but i know its a reasonable amount of time. Your old plan should still cover you if you just switched jobs recently
I believe what you are thinking of here is COBRA, and while Goat Meal's old company is obliged to provide access to COBRA if he had health through them while working there, he still has to opt into that and pay for it; it doesn't happen automatically. You do, however, still get your group rate through the company which makes it more manageable price-wise.
Mikey's in a more tough spot but hopefully he will be able to get some government help. The "sticker price" on surgery is insane.