On one of my favorite blogs - Scot McKnight's "The Jesus Creed" - I recently responded to a question posted related to whether Obama-care is the right way to address our nation's health insurance problems. I am obviously very strong in my opinion on this, but I am open to being shown that I am wrong. Feel free to read and comment whether you agree or disagree. We're all FRIENDS here! My response was as follows....
"I agree with Skip above. Health insurance is no more a human "right" than owning a house or a car simply because it is difficult to function without them. Health care is a service industry - and while there are numerous problems to fix in our system, going the dismal and disastrous way of Canada and Great Britain is not wise, ethical or freedom-promoting. Ironically, I write these words less than 48 hours after Canada has announced that its health care system is broke and unsustainable!
No artist who graduates from art school is forced by the government to subscribe to a regulated standard for what his or her work can sell for. The market determines that scale. As imperfect as it may be, the free market is the best way to maintain both quality and equality. We are entitled by our founding documents to "life, liberty and the pursuit (not guarantee) of happiness." Nowhere do those documents suggest that we are guaranteed "health, wealth or prosperity."
I am a politically moderate pastor with obvious conservative leanings in this area - and someone who is actively involved in humanitarian and compassion ministries globally. Our church's efforts to alleviate hunger, train workers and plant churches in places like Rwanda, Mexico and the Middle East represent the heartbeat of the church where I pastor. I say that to assure anyone reading this that I am committed to seeing lives transformed by the compassion of Christ through His church and other private means of goodwill. I also affirm responsible but limited government intervention in various ways.
That being said, the government has no place to stand between patients and medical professionals who have spent a multiplicity of years and dollars preparing to be the very best at the art and science of their chosen practice. Even with our multiplicity of imperfections, the United States already has the most compassionate, ethically sound system of medicine in the world. Yes, there is corruption and greed and such - and those are the issues that if stopped will bring costs way down. But under the Hippocratic Oath taken by all doctors in this country, emergency room services cannot be denied to anyone - including illegal aliens. In essence, we already have free health care.
I'd like to also comment on the so-called 47-million uninsured. It is well substantiated in bi-partisan research that if we subtract the number of people who could afford health insurance but choose not to have it, those who already qualify for state or federal coverage but do not take advantage of it, illegal aliens, and those classified as "under-insured" because they choose only to carry catastrophic coverage, the real number is around 15 million. Additionally, upwards of 85% of Americans are happy with their current plan. Am I supposed to be convinced that the 250+ million Americans who are happy with their insurance plan should be forced into a government-run system because of a problem that exists for 15 million? How about fixing the problem for the 15 million without punishing everyone else?
There is a reason that the DMV is less popular than going to the dentist! There is a reason that the postal service is struggling to turn a profit while Fed Ex and UPS thrive. There is a reason programs like Medicaid and Social Security are unsustainable by every bi-partisan report and opinion out there. Simply put, over the long-haul the government cannot manage things as well as the private sector. And I haven't even begun to address any of the ethical atrocities in the language of the current House and Senate bills (which anyone can get online if they're looking for a cure for insomnia)...
Finally, the original question posted suggests there are "30-million of us right now" who are unemployed. This is also patently untrue. Unemployment is at just over 9% of the work force - not the American population. We don't count children, retirees, stay-at-home parents, etc. in that figure. The actual work force is about 130 million. 9% of that leaves us at about 12 million without jobs. Don't get me wrong - this is way too large a number! But there is a huge difference between 30 million and 12 million, for the record. As for solutions - they include a plethora of things from eliminating frivolous malpractice suits, moving from paper-based to an electronic-based system, tax reform, and the list goes on. Please GOD don't let us go down this unethical, disastrous path when there are so many superior options..."
Those are some of my thoughts...what do YOU think?
Speaking as a Conservative/Libertarian and more importantly as an American I must generally agree with Jeremy here. The foundation of our country; codified into the Constitution as Law is build on the Lockean ideals of Life, Liberty and (Private) Property. Many of you may remember the last as "The Pursuit of Happiness" The Third President of these United States, Thomas Jefferson wrote this famous frase in order to communicate that as Americans we cannot assume falsely that we have an entitlement to certain basics of life as has become popular since Thomas Hobbes first penned Leviathan in the nineteenth century. These basics of life-food, shelter and heathcare are not rights. Having said this, as Christians we are biblically responsible for the well being of those around us, not the government. The creation of entitlement programs should be an anathma to the Church, because it means the abdication of the authority that we were given from God himself, (not to mention that entitlement programs exist outside the scope of constitutionally legitimate powers.) As far as an alternate plan- I would suggest that the Congress promote HSA's (Health Savings Accounts) and repeal Congressional limits on insurance companies to sell catastrophic insurance. Tort reform will also be essential.
ReplyDeleteI am a grateful believer in Jesus Christ, and I have seen my fair share of heart-ache in this life. Admittedly this was brought about largely by my own poor choices, and I am very thankful to say that God has restored my life in ways I could never imagine. I am in favor of Health care reform...not socialized medicine. I believe there is a difference. I don’t believe our system will resemble anything like Canada or England. This is America; we have the best system of government and the best people in the world. The very fact that the insurance lobby spends millions and millions of dollars to stop reform is ridiculous. Also, many congressmen are "on the take" from the insurance lobby. And how can anyone believe the lies that are being propagated by the radical right. And what is with the fake "protesters" at town hall meetings? These are the people who would benefit from reform and they are being influenced by the insurance lobby so more money can be made off of THEM. It is time for this to stop.
ReplyDeleteOn a similar subject, our country has also adopted many social programs over the years. Medicare, social security, welfare in all forms...these are all a form of "socialism." Are we as a country supposed to abandon all these programs and truly go back to the Constitution? Are we supposed to bo back to an America before all of these programs which are designed, in my opinion, to help those less fortunate or those who have been abused or trampled on by others. The sad truth is that many greedy and immoral people have ruined the supposed utopia of America... forcing us to enact safeguards to protect Americans. I know, there are many who take advantage and abuse these programs, but I know first-hand many people who have been helped by these social programs.
I don’t have the answers for health care reform; however, I am in favor of this current bill before congress right now. I would like to see a fair and impartial system that does not allow big insurance to continue to ration care and raise rates year after year. Something needs to be done in my opinion.
I do know that my wife and I are excited to be a part of Valley church and our mission to show the compassion of Christ to the world. I know we can make a difference.
Thank you!
I appreciate both of your comments above. I just watched Obama's weekly address (something I do regularly at www.whitehouse.gov to keep in touch with the president's own words. I hate to admit that with regard to many of his statements on this health care reform debate, I simply don't trust him. I have read major portions of the bills and contrary to our president's promises, they DO indeed include language that is either so vague as to be open to almost any interpretation - or blatant contradictions related to what the president seeks to assure us of.
ReplyDeleteAs an example, the president claims that with a so-called "public option" (which is really more accurately "the government option") all Americans will have the choice to keep their current doctors and insurance plans. This sounds well and good. One of several obvious problems is that while the government spends tax dollars to fund its additional "option", they offer this new "option" at such low rates that it will drive countless companies and individuals to abandon their current plans out of financial necessity. The economics are really quite simple. Let's say I am a small business owner who employs 100 people and makes $250K per year, my taxes will dramatically rise in order to cover the cost of the new health care plan. My choices then are A) lay off some workers to absorb my new tax burden or B) switch my company over the the government "option" (even if I fundamentally disagree with it) because I would rather keep my workers employed.
As thousands of small businesses begin to face this scenario or another version of it, over time the government "option" will no longer be an "option". They will be the only show it town and we will then be a fully socialist system. Canada is facing the fallout from precisely this horror story I've just described and they're going broke over it. Just tonight I was at a gathering and met a 60-year old woman from Canada (who by the way was not by any stretch a right-winger) who confirmed exactly what i am pointing out here.
It is scary (when I think about the mismanagement of other social programs) that we are even considering turning 1/6 of our economy over to people who are no less greedy than the CEO's they routinely condemn. In fact, I would argue that far more politicians have fallen in scandals than have CEO's in the private markets over the past 50 years by percentage!
Adding additional social burden to our tax base is absolutely irresponsible if one considers the wasteful spending that could be cut out of our federal budget. Where the heck is that "line by line" audit the president promised, anyway? So far they claim to have eliminated just over 100 million dollars in wasteful spending. That's like me cutting one stick of bubble gum out of my monthly budget.
If anything, Social security is a classic example of Governmental ineptness. Social security is a tax in which a percentage of income is held and "invested" by the government in order to become a stipend of income during the retirement years. Not only are the rates of return on these government-run investments embarrassingly low compared to what is routinely earned by individuals investing in the free market - but there has been such mismanagement with regard to projecting population change, etc. that our SS system cannot be sustained much longer either. Yes this is a form of socialism - and it is failing miserably and may not even be available for me after all I will have paid into it because current retirees are living off of money that I haven't even yet paid into it. It's a total disaster and the only way out if the government has anything to do with it will be to place such a heavy tax burden on my grandchildren that America will be unrecognizable as the land of opportunity. This is not right-wing fear-mongoring. It is simple realism after being a student of history long enough to recognize that few democrat OR republican politicians can be trusted with such high responsibility.
(continued from previous post...)
ReplyDeleteI pray that we can focus on the 15-20 million (not 47 million, as I noted above) who have fallen through the cracks. We should be in search of a responsible and compassionate solution for them - not creating a system that will eventually force everyone into sub-standard, rationed care. When the Canadian woman I referred to above told me that her cousin waited over 2 years in Canada to be treated for Kidney stones, I almost fell over! Is THAT really a compassionate system - a system where government burocrats whose job it is to cut and control costs are telling people who gets immediate treatment and who doesn't? There has to be a better way - and there is. www.healthtransformation.net is a great resource articulating some of the most obvious alternatives.
As usual guys, thanks for hearing me out. I haven't been this passionate about a political issue in a long time. And I haven't even begun to touch on the countless other ethical questions related to the sanctity of life, end-of -life decisions, etc. that the current house and senate bills are so sloppy on. However, I DO re-affirm my openness to the fact that I could very well be wrong. That does happen every once in awhile ;) (Ok....a lot....)