emergency fund access 2025-09-19T18:52:49Z

3 AM tremors shot through my arms as I held my daughter against the ER's fluorescent glare. Beeps from monitors syncopated with the nurse's footsteps while I mentally calculated which bills could bleed this month. Her temperature kept climbing - 103, 104, 105 - each degree burning through my last $37 like acid rain on pavement. That's when the hospital administrator slid a tablet toward me: "Deposit or insurance card?" The plastic in my wallet might as well have been monopoly money. I'd maxed ev