Health Care . . .

I have to be honest. Until the past few months I was pretty ambivalent on the issue of health care reform. It wasn’t until I saw the now famous clips of the town hall meetings that caused me to consider how I felt about it.

To be clear, most of my friends, coworkers and family would be hard pressed to tag me as particularly conservative or liberal, Democrat or Republican  . . . and that’s exactly the way I want it. In fact, on several occasions my very liberal friends have tagged my as a wingnut, religious conservative and my very conservative friends have labeled my as a godless liberal. I fancy myself an “equal opportunity” offender to all types and classes, though that might be giving myself more credit than I deserve.

So faced with pondering where I might land on this I considered a couple of different trains of thought.

What does our Declaration of Independence say about such things? What does our Constitution say about such things? What does the Bible say about such things.

The Declaration of Independence says, “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”

The nearest the Constitution gets to it is in Article 1, Section 8 which lists the powers of the federal government delegated to Congress.

The first one is “The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;”

The last item in Section 8 says “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.”

To me, both of these documents indicate that the life of the people and the welfare of the country are an integral concern and responsibility of the government. Some will say that I’m either being too literal or too abstract in my conclusions and to be fair, both of of those arguments have merit. However the opposing arguments also serve to lend credence that either way you look at - this is still a vital part of two of the most important documents of our country.

I do have a right to a life that is healthy (what good is a life that isn’t) and you can not separate the welfare of the United States from the health (which effects the welfare) of it’s citizens.

I can’t begin to understand how this topic has become a political issue.  The health and welfare of citizens of the United States should be paramount to all political organizations. We go to great lengths and expense to provide for the defense of our country to protect our Liberty and we establish regulatory bodies to insure our right to pursue happiness.

We would never consider the privatization of our Armed Forces, our Police Departments or our Fire Departments to insure the life, liberty and welfare of our citizens. There is a well established precedent for the government's role in establishing regulatory bodies or programs to insure these for it’s citizens. I do have a right to a life that is healthy. The FAA regulates the aircrafts that fly above our heads, the FDA regulates the foods and drugs we consume and the SEC/FTC/FDIC/etc regulate the financial systems that enable our commerce to move forward  and that’s just to name a few. The list goes on . . .

As for the Bible, the Gospels tell us that one of the key issues that Jesus addressed was the life and welfare of people. Many of his miracles were the healing of a disability or illness. The book of Matthew is chock full of healing of all sorts and has that pesky chapter 25 beginning with verse 34.

(Bear with me on the following section - I thought about excerpting key passages but I didn’t want to appear to be taking anything out of context. If you’re familiar with the passage you will get the point right away. If not it - you might want to read it over a time or two. I also put in bold the key words that differentiate between the two scenarios that Jesus presents)


“Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

So, I have the Declaration of Independence declaring that we all have a right to Life, the Constitution gives the government the power to “provide for  . ..  the common welfare” and the Bible (well, actually it’s the words of Jesus) telling me that if I want to make the sheep/goat cut and claim my inheritance I’m supposed to look after the sick - along with the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger (which opens up an whole 'nuther can of worms) and to be generous with my possessions and my time.

Which leads me to conclude that the three most important documents in the history of mankind make a pretty big deal out of life, welfare and health. Given that, I really don’t have a choice in this matter.

Will we eventually get to the place where someone’s medical condition doesn’t dictate their financial state or their financial state doesn’t dictate the amount of care they receive for their medical condition? I think we will and I look forward to that day. I might not live to see it but who knows, maybe I will be surprised.

We can argue till the cows come home and I’m certain that in the end of this round of debate, legislation and voting nobody will be completely happy with the way things turn out. But, that’s the way politics go. On this topic I heard John McCain say, “you don’t go into legislation with a list of demands. you enter with a list of things you will concede”. That’s a pretty apt assessment from some one who has been around the block a few times and I respect his opinion.One significant “find” for me during this time has been stumbling across www.politifact.com and www.factcheck.org These are to political posturing and BS what www.snopes.com is to urban legends. They are non-partisan which is just a fancy way of saying that they are equally eager to call out the proponents AND opponents of health care reform when they stray from the facts. It has been interesting to see the great number of “half true” or “partly true” items that have shown up. The best lies are ones that have a mixture of truth in them :)

The United States is capable of showing it’s citizens the greatest of compassion, mercy and grace. There are models in other countries that we can learn from. We can improve on what others have put into place and not repeat their mistakes. We don’t have to settle for the pitfalls that others have experienced. Let’s use our wisdom and ingenuity to create a uniquely American system that provides for all.

I close with this quote from Winston Churchill which I interpret as both a gentle criticism and a rousing endorsement.

“ You can always count on Americans to do the right thing—after they’ve tried everything else.”

Update: Sometimes it takes a cartoon to explain things :)

Comments

[Mike Peacock]

Why are we required to insure our cars and not our health? Are cars more important? And why does American Airlines hate my luggage?

[Sara]

Thanks for your post. I saw it on Facebook and just now got around to reading it. Well put and you made some great points that I had not heard before due to all the loud voices of those arguing with one another about this topic.