When I was younger, I had this idea that somebody was going to come save me at some point.

Whether it was in my marriage or during my divorce, I just felt like someone will intervene.

And yeah, that didn't happen.

This is death, sex, and money.

The show from WNYC about the things we think about a lot and need to talk about more.

I'm going to talk about more. I'm Anna Sale.

Sarah Short was 18 years old when she and her then boyfriend found out she was pregnant.

I had started going to college, but I didn't know what I wanted to do.

And so, you know, my first impulse was, okay, I'm going to look into adoption.

Sarah went to her first prenatal checkup, and that got her worried about how she was going to pay her medical bills.

I didn't understand how health insurance worked.

I mean, as far as I know, I think I walked into the hospital and asked them, where do I go if I'm having a baby?

And but then they told me, oh, this health insurance that you have through your dad won't cover OB type services. And I asked them, you know, is there something in place for poor people? Can I set up a payment plan? And they just said, no, no. And so at that

point, I really didn't know what to do, and I just didn't go back to the doctor.

Sarah eventually decided to keep the baby, but she didn't have another doctor's appointment until she was seven months into her pregnancy. She'd tried to enroll in Medicaid, but she needed

to track down a copy of her birth certificate. Hers had gotten lost. By the time I got it,

I'd already had my daughter, and they told me that there was nothing they can do, and it wouldn't be covered.

Do you remember when the bill came in the mail?

Yeah, I remember these bills started showing up, anesthesia and the hospital stay and the doctor.

And I just laughed.

I was like, I can't pay this.

I can't write a check for thousands of dollars.

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