In 2003 a mystery ailment hit like a Mack truck. Within a year I was fired from my job due to my decline in health. I spent years being referred from one physician and test to the next. Test results and imaging indicated all kinds of maladies. Yet I received no comprehensive diagnosis nor treatment - just more referrals. And I had comprehensive medical insurance through Cigna. So I assembled my medical records, researched and self diagnosed, thinking that if I had an idea of what was wrong with me, I'd have better luck finding a doctor who would help me. I've been disabled for five years now with severe degeneration of my spine caused by an undiagnosed, untreated systemic bacterial infection, actinomycosis. Using the test results no doctor could decipher, I applied for (and subsequently received) Social Security Disability benefits in August 2008. Not being diagnosed, being shuffled from one doctor to the next, cost me my job, my health and all my savings and assets. I'm facing foreclosure and bankruptcy in very bad health, and I still need gastrointestinal surgery to remove an abscess causing a partial blockage. Try finding a lawyer who will sue on your behalf once you've lost everything. I've chronicled my experiences in a series of blog posts at http://doctorblue-blues.blogspot.com. The blog is a Hail Mary pass to anyone who will help me find a doctor who knows anything about actinomycosis. In my case, I went bankrupt, became disabled at age 50 not because I didn't have health insurance, but because of the way doctors practice medicine. We'll never reform health care without addressing the inherent problems in our insurance-created medical care system that is driving up costs and simultaneously disabling patients. We'll never reform health care without enforcing the laws that make sure insurers are living up to their promises regarding patient care complaints. Any medical malpractice attorney will tell you such abuse is a common occurrence that our society has simply accepted.