What a friggin hassle (that’s an understatement) for you Painman. Just what you need, a little more stress. It seems as though everything is a fight. Fight the doctors to listen, fight insurance to pay, fight the stress and pain from fighting all the damn time. The healthcare system in the U.S. has become that of a third world country. The costs that are billed for care are obscene, if not laughable. Bram is right, there’s no money in a cure. It doesn’t matter if it’s cancer or CRPS.

I am a casualty of being self-employed, and premiums became out of my reach when the economy went in the toilet back in ’08. We held on until 2010 until premiums for JUST ME were over $1k per month! Right, I can totally afford that, and the co-pays, Rx, etc. I am now at the mercy of my state’s system. I waited a full year to see a neurologist. I had access to a primary care doctor right away, who at my first visit said I was out of his scope of practice and wouldn’t so much as prescribe gabapentin. Can you believe that? Like I’m looking to take anti-seizure medication for the hell of it. He ended my visit by telling me I need health insurance. Wow, he’s a really smart guy, hu?

I would file for disability, God knows I qualify, but since I was self-employed, my accountant didn’t tell me that because I am self-employed I should have filed taxes a certain way to be covered. If I had filed taxes differently, I would have been covered. So basically it’s like I didn’t work for 10 years and I no longer have work credits. That too is laughable. I have worked harder being self-employed than I have worked at anything in my life. I have worked since I was a young grade school kid throwing newspapers. All I can think is all the years I paid in. I want my money back!!

Anyway, I hope you are somehow able to get the help you need. I feel for your situation.