My dad is Medicaid-pending, but the nursing home and hospital want him to pay before he's transferred to the NH. How is this supposed to work?

Your Medicaid case workers name and phone number should be on the paperwork you received from Medicaid with the pending number. They will be able to give you answers on how to handle bills.

He's going forever. He's very disabled and unable to live alone

Is dad in the hospital and going to NH as a rehab patient?

When Mom was Medicaid Pending the Medicaid person I was working with told me not to pay anything. They would pay all expenses 3 months prior to my application date, and if I paid any bills from rehab, ambulance, etc, that I would just make the final calculation or reimbursement more confusing. Talk to your Medicaid contact and tell them the hospital is asking for money. You may just need to provide the hospital with the Medicaid case number.