Lapse in coverage between employers – emergency surgery. Help!

I’m hoping for some advice on how to best approach this. I resigned from my last company on 9/21/23 after receiving another offer. The company decided not to let me finish my two weeks, terminating my employment and medical coverage on 9/21.

I started my new position on 10/2 and enrolled in coverage with my new policy effective 11/1. This past weekend (during the lapse of coverage) I had an accident which resulted in an urgent care visit, being referred to an ER and eventually an emergency surgery and 3 day hospital stay.

I never received an option to enroll in COBRA coverage from my previous employer and I have reached out to inquire about that. While I’m waiting on their response, I wanted to check in with this group. Considering the date of treatment will now be prior to my application for coverage through COBRA, is it just too late? Is there anything I can do or am I just at the mercy of charity care and handling this expense on my own?

Happy to answer more questions in the comments – I wanted to avoid a lengthy post in case there is another group I should be directing this question to. But any advice would be great appreciated!