Rica

In November, 2025, I thought I got food poisoning from a meal someone gave me. I felt bad after eating it and was taken to the hospital. There, I was given antibiotics and pain medication, without a thorough examination. I am on disability, a complex patient with several serious conditions. I didn’t really feel better after taking the medications for what was diagnosed as food poisoning, but I was in the process of moving back to Virginia. I had to find new doctors there and it took months until I was eligible for full Medicare and Medicaid coverage there. In March, I finally found doctors in Virginia who ran tests for my health conditions and eventually found that I had a parasite in my colon that had apparently been in the tainted food I ate in November. I am finally getting the right treatment for the illness and despite the discomfort and pain of the illness and treatment, I believe I will recover. But I am angry that I wasn’t diagnosed properly or examined thoroughly at first and that I ran the risk of kidney failure due to that. If we had Medicaid for all, I would have had continuous healthcare coverage and wouldn’t have to wait months to be approved for care just because I moved.