The ethics of being on the dole?

I've have never really been on the receiving end of the public dole. Sure, I have attended many heavily subsidized cultural events/performances (welfare for the rich that the wealthy so often forget they are receiving). I did have my Regents scholarship upped an additional $250 my freshman year due to my parents' low income, but my mother graduated from college and started working during my freshman year, giving me zero additional scholarship dollars thereafter.
However, I retired in 2014, at an age when it would be considered "early" retirement. My husband is on the autism spectrum and hasn't held a real job in over a decade. But, we did well financially...well enough to be able to afford early retirement as long as we keep our spending down...which I am very good at. I was born frugal.
The thing is, how much of "the dole" can I accept without feeling guilty? I've embraced whatever over-55 discounts that come my way...of course, those are from private enterprises. But, we did not apply for financial aid for our health insurance, even though we would surely qualify for it. Maybe that was a mistake? I retired early because I honestly believe I have less than 20 years left on this planet and I wanted to sort of relax for some of them (also because my work performance was starting to drop below my standards and I was having health problems that made it very difficult to perform my work on deadline...and was making my health problems worse...back problems exasperated by sitting for long periods). I certainly will embrace Medicare when I'm old enough. Maybe it is foolish of me not to apply for the health coverage financial aid. Maybe I will be forced to some year soon, but then, if I really need it to survive, I don't think I'll feel guilty about accepting it. (I'm figuring by that point, I wouldn't be able to work anyway, so I needn't feel guilty about retiring early.) What are your thoughts? If there is a disaster and you lose property, do you apply for aid even though the loss is one you can afford (I remember big controversy locally when such events transpired).