I do appreciate your sharing your thoughts on this issue--your own thoughts and words are much more valuable to me than a forwarded email as I try to make an informed opinion about health care reform.
I have two major concerns about the current state of health care in this country. One is that basic, decent quality health care is not affordable or accessible for a lot of people in this country. There are people with jobs who can't afford health insurance and are barely getting by, trying to pay bills and feed their family, and end up forgoing preventive health care because they can't afford a doctor's visit, and then end up sicker. Not to mention the homeless, children from poor families or others who have difficulty getting the basic health care they need. Our country is so prosperous, I don't understand why this should be acceptable.
Secondly, I am extremely frustrated by insurance companies. I think everyone I know has a story about a situation with an insurance company where they were denied coverage for a procedure, doctor's visit or medication that was supposed to be covered according to their policy. My own experience and the stories of others seem to indicate that the goal of insurance companies is to hold on to as much of your money as possible, even if you are entitled to coverage or reimbursement according to the policy you are paying for. The standard practice for insurance companies seems to be to initially deny all claims, in hopes that the customer will not have the wisdom, time or ability to fight for the coverage they have bought. This is downright wrong.
These are my concerns. I am not claiming that Obama's proposed health care reform will fix these issues, because I don't know enough about it. If it did fix these issues, but included government funding for abortion, then that would be a problem.
But perhaps you're right, perhaps the government has no business trying to fix these problems. If that is the case, who would be responsible? As far as helping to make sure the poor have access to health care, then certainly the church should be involved. Many hospitals, of course, were started by Christians who felt it was their God-given duty to care for the sick. Some churches today support health clinics or have programs that help people find the services they need. This is great. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be happening enough.
And who should be responsible for keeping insurance companies accountable? I suppose in a free market, ideally, consumers would choose the companies that provided good coverage and were fair and honest in their practices, leaving other companies without enough customers to support themselves, forcing them to improve or go out of business. But what if every insurance company out there is corrupt? What if there is no option that provides good coverage and is fair and honest?
The overarching reason for my concern for the poor is not because I am a "liberal" (although, politically, perhaps that's what I am--but please don't make assumptions about me based on that--it doesn't mean I agree with everything Obama or Congressional democrats say). The reason for my concern for the poor is because I read the Bible. How we, as individuals and as a community, treat the poor is intricately tied up with the Gospel and our relationship to God. A couple passages that support this are Isaiah 58:5-10 and Matthew 25:31-46.
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD ?
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness a]">[a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
I highlighted some parts to point out that this passage claims that when an individual or a community cares for the poor, then God gets glory and their light shines. If the USA is a "Christian" nation, then we need to be concerned for the poor and oppressed if we want our light to shine in the world and God to be glorified. And, we need to do away with the pointing finger and malicious talk (Lord, help us...)
Here, also, is Matthew 25:31-46
31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34"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. 35For 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.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"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.'
41"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. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I 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.'
44"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?'
45"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.'
46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
In this passage, it looks like Jesus might be judging nations, as well as individuals. Our nation will be judged if we do not make sure the hungry are fed, the naked are clothed, the sick are cared for. Not only that, but Jesus identifies himself with the hungry, sick, naked, prisoner. We meet Jesus when we interact with and care for the poor.
These are just two passages that highlight the importance of caring for the poor. There are hundreds more. I believe Scripture as a whole supports the idea that how we care for the poor is definitely one of the most important things about our life and relationship with God.
I've kind of gone on and on, and gotten a bit off the topic of health care. But I hope you can see that it is related. If proponents of health care reform are claiming that it is about helping the sick and the poor, then I want to understand it better, to know if that's really what it is. Unfortunately, as I try to understand it, I have come to mistrust conservative Christian media, because they are using tactics that are dishonest and reactionary. I am looking for other ways of getting, as I said, good, well-presented, verifiable information, on all sides of the issue. It seems to be a difficult and time-consuming task...
Thanks for engaging with me on this topic. I hope you're enjoying the conversation...
Mindy
P.S. Here is another link to the McLaren article. I know I've already written a lot, but if you have time, let me know what you think...
http://www.brianmclaren.net/
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