Myzen, you're up to date on all my experiences with the social services system in the U.S., so you know it's a disaster. It takes up to 6 months to get a disability determination, and their criteria are: 1) expected to die within 12 months or 2) expected to be completely unable to work for 12 months. They make it damn hard to get, and check all your medical records, etc., then have their own doctors make the determination.

As I've discovered over the last couple of days, Medicaid -- the full-benefit health insurance for the poor or disabled -- has its own problems. If you qualify -- and you have to be under a certain income level and not have many (or any) assets -- you can get everything you would ever want health-wise: free vision care, dental care, mental health care, very low cost prescriptions, etc. But it takes a month or so to establish eligibility, they want to see bank statements for several months back, etc. Plus, it's not necessarily transferable from state to state.

Lots of hoops to jump through in the U.S. for non-employer-funded health care! It sucks.

Candy