Found out my mom doesn’t have insurance after getting pacemaker put in

On Thursday morning, my brother and I (mid-30s, lower-middle class) heard from her (early 70s, fixed income) on a group text that she was in the ICU after fainting and falling once each on Tuesday and Wednesday, and that she’d been lined up for a pacemaker surgery the next morning. Her friend helping around the house was there for the second occurrence and convinced her to go to the hospital, thankfully.

Needless to say she’s not forthcoming about a lot of issues in her life, the silent suffering type. So we were in for another surprise this morning, the day after surgery when they’re to discharge her, to learn that she was dropped by her primary insurance provider in November last year.

We don’t know why, and we don’t know if she did anything for back-up coverage in the meantime, but let’s say she doesn’t have any coverage of any kind — what kind of game plan do we need to put together for this one issue of the hospital stay?

My mother lives alone in California, in her early 70s; my brother and his wife live about an hour away; and my wife and I live across the country. We’re in our early/mid/late 30s and I suppose we’re somewhere in the lower half of middle class.

UPDATE: She worked for the county her whole career and never paid into social security.

There are other things we need to intervene on related to her condition, but this has just popped up to be the most urgent.

TLDR: Subject + How can we, her kids, help her navigate this if she doesn’t have insurance?

Thanks for any support.