Approved for Florida Medicaid Medically Needy Share of Cost, but is it likely to be cheaper to just go to COBRA?

If I am currently uninsured (working part time without benefits and did not secure ACA health insurance during open enrollment) and I need to have surgery before open enrollment next year, can I quit my part time job to join another with benefits to gain health insurance? Do I need to wait til 2023?

Since insurance offered through my work is real expensive for both of us to be on, we applied through healthcare.gov and they sent my wife’s info to Florida Medicaid. The result was that we weren’t eligible for her to get Medicaid because of our income, but she was approved as Medically Needy with a $3700 share of cost.

At this point, since we’re getting ready to have a baby, if I’m understanding the plan correctly, I’m not sure that having to meet $3700 each month to get any benefits will actually be much of a help. We’re still looking into how much each OB visit will cost and all that, but if it’s anything close to that share of cost minimum, it’ll definitely be too much to afford so we’re trying to work out our options. It’ll at least be helpful for the delivery itself which will be well above $3700, but not sure what to do with alllll the appointments we’ve got lined up before then.

Anyone have experience with this sort of plan? Would it make more sense for us to just try and get COBRA to cover these appointments, or something from the insurance marketplace?

Edit – adding some more details:

Age: 31

Zipcode: 32223

Income: $35,000/year

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