Am injured, need insurance and apparently don’t understand anything

Hi all, I’m hoping to get some assistance here as I never had anybody in my life to teach me this stuff. Maybe I should have taken more initiative, I don’t know.

I’m 31 and work for a plumbing company at $20/hr. w/o benefits. On Wednesday I severely injured my back (at home, not on the job). I was bedridden for a day but am currently mobile with crutches. I’d love to be able to get back to work this week sometime but I just don’t know if that’s realistic. I was forced to stay home for a week a few weeks ago due to a covid scare, all of which was unpaid.

I applied for medicaid and was denied because I make too much, but that was before my injury. I just tried to apply through healthcare.gov but something about open enrollment being over was mentioned. I have no idea what that means. I’d love to qualify for lower income health insurance, but I’m also at the point where I’d consider just buying it. I didn’t realize that a single person can pay anywhere from $200-$500/month for insurance. I thought it would be way less. I’m in NC and evidently it’s illegal to not have health insurance. Regardless, I want it anyway.

Is there some way around the convoluted process of government healthcare applications? If not and they’re just trying to fuck with you, what may be a good coverage option for me to purchase (ideally at less than $300/mo) from a private company and will I be able to have coverage right away? I’ve never needed a primary care physician but I’d like to be able to go get some scans if I need it or perhaps see an osteopath.

There’s so much I don’t know about all this. It’s not easy to know everything. I’m trying to learn about plumbing code and investing and getting out of debt and then I find myself needing to understand insurance terminology. I’d be grateful for any assistance you can provide.