Virginia Medean on Healthcare and the St. Joseph's Food Ministry (clip)
Interviewed by Ella Wise and Rachel Mossey on March 19, 2010
Virginia Medean (VM): My husband, I said you know, he has serious healthcare needs, which will affect where he will be able to work.
Ella Wise/Rachel Mossey (EW/RM): Mhm
VM: And, so it’s sort of an enforced poverty, even though it was out of our control that it happened – and I have a lot of experience with being broke, I mean, I ran away as a teenager, so you know I’ve learned a lot – but he can’t get health insurance. Even this healthcare bill, if it passes, you know, the pre-existing conditions issue won’t kick in for several years.
EW/RM: Mhm
VM: Well, if you’re fifty-ish and he's forty-nine, that’s down the road too. That seems a long way away. And he has pre-existing conditions. So you’re always trying to help manage these things, but you get more information standing in this free food line, about everything. Everybody is juggling these things, you know?
EW/RM: Right
VM: We’re constantly talking about where to live, who's got the best deal, how to manage. I found out so much more here about how to get things paid for when I first came here [pause], but constantly it's great. It’s like I said, it’s a really interesting community. And for the most part, I think we all live pretty close to each other. We all either live in the less expensive apartments at the other end of town or the less expensive apartments in Carrboro.
