Health Care Rock and a Hard Place

Here I am having to practice what I preach, we are in a jam, a pickle, the proverbial rock and a hard place. Letting our health insurance lapse for more than 63 days last year has put us in this tricky situation. Now we are balancing my husbands needed surgery along with heart caths and Dr's appointments in a race to get everything done in one month before our temp insurance runs out. Except his bp keeps elevating and the Dr won't release him for the surgery, I keep telling him to be calm so his blood pressure doesn't rise and we can get all this done in the time frame.
We have coverage the following month but the government law reads we have to wait 6 months before pre existing conditions are covered but we have to pay for the coverage anyway but I am taking a lot of time off from work so we can try to pack it all into one month.

We are going to suck it up, be healthier and pay through the nose for a policy that won't cover what we need to stay healthy.
Can someone explain how we do all this? How do people not working pay for health ins. how is America really coping with health care.