I stand by what I said 100% too. Nothing I said was incorrect. I'm not saying you didn't get screwed, I made it clear that "some" people do. im also not saying you're stupid....I said that smart people can make better use of 2 incomes than one. At some point you thought getting married would be of benefit and now that you've gotten married and been penalized you think the system is somehow rigged for all. It's not all, it's some and it's not intentional, it's just how things go....no matter how well meaning laws are written, some poor person is going to fall through the cracks. You obviously didn't always see it (married people being penalized) this way or you wouldn't have gotten married, correct?

I can cook a meal for 4 people using the same amount of electricity I use on a meal for one. We get cheaper auto insurance by combining......I can stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer for the same cost married as single. As a general rule, there are more economic benefits to being married. People don't need to believe in this for it to be true.

I'm glad you got out of the horrible situation you were in.....that must have been very hard and I'm sorry you went through such hardship. I think you'd be smart to talk with a lawyer about getting separated and saving money in health insurance. If you can't afford it, you need to do what you need to do to survive. If you can afford it and are on disability, then the system is working as it should. Whether I've been on assistance is irrelevant.....you don't need to be on assistance to know how things work. A disability lawyer whose never been on assistance knows more about the law than the typical person in assistance. You've been on assistance for some time and admit you didn't know how things worked until you got married so I fail to see the relevance. If I've never been on assistance, it doesn't invalidate my opinion or make correct information I've provided somehow false.

To reiterate, you got screwed and I'm sorry. I agree in your situation marriage wasn't the best option but that doesn't mean you can make blanket statements about marriage as a whole. Well, actually you can but it doesn't make it right.