<prompt> Human: Throwaway because I dont want someone I work with knowing my situation. My son recently had surgery that I was under the impression my employer sponsored insurance would cover. They told me they would. I asked many times. I even have a letter from them stating that my son had been approved for the surgery and they were somewhat sure they would cover the bulk of it. They didnt. They paid roughly 65 of the cost and now the hospital is charging me for the remainder. It equals out to 5,000. My financial rundown: I take home after taxes and health insurance deductions 1398 monthly. - 500 rent-100 utilities - water- gas- tec.- 50 Special formula and typical food for my 1 year old son-50 Copayments for his monthly Drs. appointments- 50 Car Insurance400 Daycare for son while I work - 10 to my neighbor for using his wifi. This is actually a lot cheaper than getting my own internet connection in my area- 100 ish Food and tolietries for myself and the houseThat is all monthly. I also usually put the remaining 138 into a savings account. I currently have 6000 in a typical savings account. I havent used any of it. I work full-time, I have a 3000 credit card line that I only use in emergencies, and I have no debt. I have a car that I only use to drive to work and it is completely paid off. It is just me supporting my son. I have a CS order but he doesnt have a job so it goes unenforced. I have no family alive that I can live with. I live a frugally as possible. I can not take in a roommate because I live in a one bedroom. I looked into moving into a cheaper place but I cant find any within an hour of my workplace. I can not cut daycare. I have no friends or family that can watch him. The daycare we pay is the cheapest in the area and is rather reasonable state-wide.Before someone asks about it, I already looked into state aid. I dont qualify. I do pretty well at meeting our needs without the help, it is just this one bill. My questions: I contacted the hospital about payments, and they stated that with a bill that size they would only accept payments that were a 1000 or more a month. I offered to pay them 200. They said no. I even offered to pay 500. They still said no. I honestly dont know how I can find 1000 a month to pay this thing back. They gave me until the end of the month to make a payment or they would send it to collections. I have talked to everyone at that hospital that would listen to me. No one can help me at all. Do I take the money from my savings account and use it to pay this debt? My fear is that I am losing that emergency fund, and it isnt easy to just get back. What if I need new tires or if the baby gets sick? What if I unexpectedly lose my job? I just couldnt imagine not having it. It isnt much, but that slowly growing fund is what helps me sleep at night. If I dont pay the full 1000 a month, and they do send it to collections, what is the worst that could happen? I know they could sue me, but would I be able to make lower, more reasonable payment to them?I want to pay the debt, but 1000 a month is just impossible.Any thoughts and opinions would be very appreciated. tl;dr I am a poor local government office worker with a baby, and I need to know if I should take my savings and pay off this medical debt. I live in the U.S., Arkansas  <response>: I hate to beat this drum again but posts like this really show that the US healthcare and social aid systems are completely and totally fucked. 5K unexpected medical bill that needs to be paid immediately or you face collections? Fucked. Single working mother, paying for own daycare, not receiving child support gets NO state aid? Fucked. 