As fascinating as this discussion of our health care system is, I have a couple of observations....
--My condolences! My mom's a beekeeper, and I have been stung lots of times, and every single one hurt like you wouldn't believe it. You don't get used to the pain; it hurts like crazy every time it happens.
--I am not an entomologyst, but:
--If the bug that stung you left her stinger in your finger, it was probably a honey bee. Wasp stingers don't have barbs.
--Bees are not aggressive; normally they will sting only if harassed.
--The honey bees in some parts of the country(including yours?) are "Africanized," meaning they have interbred with African honey bees. African bees arrived in South America some decades ago and spread quickly from there, having some competitive advantages over common bees. They are nastier, more inclined to sting, than non-Africanized bees; sometimes they attack en masse when the hive is threatened, earning them the name "killer bees." They don't usually kill, of course.
--If there's a stinger stuck to you along with a poison sac, scrape it away with a sharp edge (a finger nail, credit card, metal blade, almost anything will do). If you grasp the poison sac between your thumb and forefinger, you squeeze the poison out of the sac and into the wound. Tweezers are worse still.
--I am not a doctor, but:
--If you get a stinger in your finger, it's normal for your finger to swell up. The swelling may spread from there, so your whole hand, or whole arm, may swell up; ice will help, but not to worry, this is comparatively harmless.
--If you get swelling somewhere else, without swelling in between, that's an allergic reaction and very bad. Any swelling that inhibits breathing, for example, would be very bad. But the real danger is anaphylaxis. If you go into anaphylactic shock, you need to get to the emergency room right away, regardless of cost.
--Benadryl may help.
--Allergy to bee venom tends to be cumulative over the course of your life: you may get stung hundreds of times and have no reaction to speak of, because you are not allergic. But then one day you get stung and have an allergic reaction: well, now you are allergic, and you are going to stay that way, and you may well go into anaphylactic shock next time. If that's what happened, then you should get a venom kit and carry it with you at all times.
--From your description, I am not convinced you had an allergic reaction; joint stiffness unrelated to swelling, headache, impaired balance, and lethargy do not sound to me like allergic reaction to bee sting. Confirm that with an allergist, of course.