Ping!
But you’ve been paying into the system for years and years. It’s your money and you deserve it all back. (I’m just practicing for when SS goes bust just as I’m about to start collecting. I wish they would just tell me now - and let me not dump anymore money into the pyramid.)
I hope that your health conditions improve.
I agree with the others who pointed out that you’ve paid into the system, there is nothing wrong with withdrawing the deposits you’ve made.
Your comments called to mind a story my mom told me about my legal immigrant grandmother. When my grandfather’s union went on strike (this had to be in the 40’s or 50’s), he wanted to apply for some type of gov’t assistance, and my grandmother snapped at him, “I did NOT come to this country to be a burden!”
Pride, my darling Alan, goeth before a fall. Once you fall, you might never get back up.