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Christianity Today, February, 2008 |

The Health Care Crunch

Let's make sure any reform plan we pursue avoids the single-value syndrome.

A Christianity Today editorial | posted 2/05/2008 08:51AM

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Financial stewardship. We do not believe in health care at all costs: There is indeed a time to live and a time to die. Neither do we weigh human life and health against the calculations on a spreadsheet: Every human life, created and loved by God, is of inestimable value. As the longevity of Americans rises—and with it, the costs of caring for the elderly—this tension will become increasingly acute. Still, any strategy worth supporting should hold these truths in tension.

Access of the marginalized. While a just health-care plan should work for people of every race, ethnicity, and social class, we advocate a strategy that is biased on behalf of the dispossessed. Our legal system, when it is functioning at its best, protects the rights of the innocent; we're convinced that in the coming months and years, the President and Congress can create a national health-care strategy that will first and foremost protect the poor.

We believe that an effective and lasting health-care strategy must honor these four principles to some degree. But as with any complex public policy, Christians will disagree about their priority and implementation. That's all to the good, as iron does sharpen iron.

For the sake of rhetorical neatness and persuasive power, some will be tempted to ground their plan primarily on frugality or on freedom or some other single-value concern. This may win support, but it will not create a balanced and measured strategy that will stand the test of time.

Related Elsewhere:

Other Christianity Today editorials and articles on the 2008 Presidential elections are available in our full-coverage sections.

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February 2008, Vol. 52, No. 2

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Arek	Posted: February 19, 2008 2:08 AM

Why do we Christians trust government so blindly? Prayer for our leaders does not require trust in their integrity. Is not the love of money the root of all kinds of evils? Is a politician exempt from this truth? By no stretch of the imagination! So what makes us think that politicians or political groups would set aside their own personal gain for mine or yours? In a centrally planned healthcare system someone will decide how to limit access by pharamaceutical and other healthcare companies, and I am willing to guess that the highest bidder wins, although we may never find out. Healthcare is already being crushed in the tentacles of big government, and we feel the pain. Why are so many clamoring for more tentacles, more regulation, more government involvement? If advocacy for a national health-care system is added to Christian virtue then let the government steal my earnings since I am so rich, and I will try to be charitable with the remaining ten cents I have.

Doug Tidwell

Posted: February 14, 2008 12:11 AM

It is virtuous and Christ-like for me to donate my own resources to help provide for medical help for a person in need. It is theft and very un-Christ-like to forcibly take money from a stranger (we call it taxation) to accomplish the same purpose. Liberalism is the art of being generous with OPM (other people's money). That's why I'm not only a social conservative, but also a fiscal conservative. The best way to improve the American health care system is to increase competition and get the government out of it. I'm amazed by the number of unnecessary medical tests our local clinic performs on my 76-year-old inlaws every year simply because Medicaire pays for it. My Bible college professor said, "Capitalism is the worst economic system in the world....except for all the other systems." Personal responsibility, deregulation, and free market forces will to more to improve our nation's healtcare system than any government program in the long run.

Michael

Posted: February 11, 2008 9:24 AM

Great article. And thank you for keeping it at the fore-front of our conscience. America has a serious problem. If you don't see it or agree, go to any major or minor metropolitan area and visit and ER. Ask the people about their wait. These people are sick, hurting, have broken bones, etc. and they have to wait anywhere from 2-7 hrs to be seen by a physician that went to school for 4+4+3 years. And the article points out that its not just an issue of access, its also an issue of affordability. Many people have access to Health Care but can not afford to use it because of the cost. And the idea of being cost-effective, (spreadsheets) deny this procedure, but approve this procedure is border-line immoral. If you don't understand this portion of the issue, ask anyone that has a terminal illness, cancer, or genetic disorder about the many procedures a/o medicines that are 'available' but 'unaffordable w/o insurance.

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