I can't necessarily say anything upbeat about insurance paying out, but one thing I can reassure you about is that taking a long time to pay extensive medical bills is neither unheard of nor damning.

Back when I was a kid my dad had major surgery and a year's worth of subsequent rehab before he could come home, to the tune of $50,000 after insurance that we had to pay on a nonprofit office manager's salary and disability stipends. We kept our house and kept food on the table. We weren't able to pay a lot off at once, but the hospitals were willing to work with my family as long as we kept making good faith payments in amounts we could handle.