I'm a Nursing Home Administrator and also had my children in the NICU for 30+ days a few years ago so I think my perspective might be of use. 1) You need to get ahold of the insurance policy she's under. Your dad can likely have it by the end of the day. Pay attention to things like referrals being required, in network, etc. Normally hospitals are in network with most insurances but the specialists that come in to visit her might not be.
2) Unless the laws have changed recently, as long as you are making an effort to pay the bill, they can't send you to official collections for medical bills. Sometime in the next couple of days, a financial person will walk into the room and say that your dad has to sign something promising to pay a certain amount every month. Just have him say it's too emotional for him and that they can leave the information for him to look over later. Dont' let them threaten you. 3) Insurance company take advantage of. Hospitals are paid on a payment system called DRG's. Based on the diagnosis/etc, they will get a payment per day for service. I wouldn't worry too much about this part. It'll just pass through. We had a rep from the insurance company come into the room and start wanting to change medications that the doctor had prescribed. We shut that down completely. They were of course trying to reduce costs but honestly in the heat of the moment I don't want to be arguing about medicine's. Just give my family member what they need. (A very side note, your mother will require pain medication during her stay at the hospital. The pain IS WHAT SHE SAYS IT IS If she says she is hurting, don't say phrases like "Mom is tough, she can deal with it." She is in pain TREAT IT. Even with the heavy hitters. Pain medication is for acute episodes and this is one. So when you hear dilaudid, morphine, oxycontin etc she needs these medications. Again, pain is what she says it is. Let them treat it. She won't be an addict because of her hospital stay. 4) I am a firm believer that you should pay every single bill when it comes to your house. If it's a bill for $4000 and you can only pay $10 this month, pay that and include a note that says "I intend to pay this bill in full, This is the amount I am able to pay for now" Make a medical bill fund if you can. About 2 years into a $9,000 bill, we had paid it down to around $5000, we got a call one day offering a full settlement on the account for $2,000. We asked for it in writing, they gave it and we saved $3,000. Another bill we had took $25/month for 9 years and the month we missed one payment, we got a collection letter saying not to deal with the medical place anymore. It was an oversight on our part, We sent 2 payments the next month to the medical place and kept on our path. They never said anything else. (A lot of times collection agencies are in the same building as the medical place. Don't let them harass you. I always responded to them in writing saying I would only contact the medical company and considered my cashed checks to be acceptance of the payment plan. 5) When your dad asks for the insurance policy, it should explain in detail what the coverage is. It does get complex. When in doubt, call the insurance companyu and take notes "Is Dr. Bob Jones considered a specialist under my policy and do we need a referral? What is your name? Your id and the id of this phone call" 6) No advice on Cigna. They pay us when we bill them (very few patients with them )

Medications: You can shop these. My daughter recently had a plantars wart that a cream was prescribed for $250 at CVS. Humana covered $100 of it. $150 seemed outrageous. I called back to the nurse at the hospital and she found a compounding pharmacy that cost about $40 to produce the medication with no insurance. On the little stuff that doesn't cost much, I'd save my time but I'd shop any high dollar medications (once she's out of the hospital of course)

Don't let the medical bills overwhelm you. They are just pieces of paper. Pay what you can pay each month and put the bill in a file. Do not let a stack of medical bills pile up and make you ignore them.