Why is Health Care a Moral Issue for you?
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Within the next few weeks, our representatives in government will almost certainly vote on legislation to revise the health care insurance system. What form those revisions will take has yet to be decided, but in the current debate, questions of affordability, taxpayer burden, quality of care, and freedom of choice have risen to the forefront.
. . . But are those the areas that should receive our focus?
As people of faith and conscience, how can we structure the discussion in such a way that we keep it true to our principles? How do we make it clear that at its heart the debate about health care shouldn’t simply be a discussion of economic issues or questions of access or type of care given, but an ethical and moral issue that asks all of us to consider our most basic notions of fairness and respect for quality of life?
The health care subcommittee of the Racial and Economic Justice Task Force is asking for your input. We would like you to answer the following question: What, for you, constitutes a health care “bottom line”? Why is health care a moral issue to you?
How would you frame the debate?
Please respond by leaving a reply below. Thank you!
My “bottom line”—the minimum “MORAL MUST”— in any health care reform package coming out of congress is—–there MUST be a public financed health care option available for every US citizen.
Basic healthcare should be available to all people. For those people that worry about the cost for this, it would be affordable if Congress put a cap on malpractice lawsuits and made it harder to win malpractice cases.
I could not come up with anything specific but the four principles that I have come up with:
1) Healthcare is a right for everybody because at some point in your life you will need it or will benefit from research done for it, disinfectants are part of everyone’s life.
2) The free market will not take care of this. Either the government or other non-profit agencies will have to take care of it since it is not “economical” to help people.
3) The current political climate will not give us the change we need, it is hard to give people what is necessary and it requires sacrifice by people who are not use to sacrificing.
4) We cannot be silent. People are dying or will be dying because of this issue. However, Health care reform is on the edge, there is no guarantee anything will change. We must be the agents of change again as we were in November.
FROM Al Connor
One specific I think is necessary for real healthcare reform is more emphasis on preventive care. All medical experts agree that prevention is less expensive and more effective than waiting to provide curative care.
A second specific is Public Insurance. Obama and Congress are talking about a Public Insurance option. I think it should be mandatory as is Social Security for most workers. And I think a monthly premium, based on affordability, could be deducted from one’s pay and placed in trust to be available when a contributor needs treatment or preventive care. (Those of us on Medicare have a percentage of our monthly SS benefit deducted to pay the Medicare premium.)
That Trust Fund, unlike Social Security, should be inviolate so it could not be borrowed by the administration to pay general fund debts. However, getting an optional public plan, now is problemmatic. Without it, “healthcare reform,” is an empty expression.
A third specific is caps on the costs of treatment procedures. The AMA has opposed caps because they would reduce some physicians’ incomes. Most physicians I have known could withstand a significantly reduced income and still have a very good quality of life. Also, those that I know would not complain about a slightly reduced income.
Four, a cap on malpractice penalties might be a corallary to a cap on treatment procedure costs.
Five, Local and regional Health Planning Councils should have the authority to determine such things as: (a) where regional, tertiary care hospitals are located so that all in the region have quick access when needed, (b) where primary care clinics and facilities are located, the most (c) locally effective and efficient means of delivery of both preventive and curative services for its area and demographic population, (d) What the best mix of healthcare providers and support personnel is for its area and demographic population, (e) methods of public healthcare education and information dissemination. (There probably are other items that could be in the councils’ purview. Both consumers and providers should be represented on such councils.)
We do have regional health planning councils in Michigan now, I believe. At least we did at one time. I was a member of the SE Michigan and Washtenaw County HPCs in 70s. Back then the Uof M hospital and counnty medical assns had more power than the councils did, but we were not powerless. I doubt, though, if federal legislation will include anything like number five.
For Peace among all life on Earth.
As a Christian, heathcare is not just another issue, it is a fundamental matter of human life and dignity. To serve the Lord is to protect life, nurture life, and serve the living; If this is not the case, whom should I serve? The dead?
I believe scripture has already outlined a healthcare mission statement (See Matthew 25: 31 – 46).
Sorry about getting scriptural here, but you did ask for my moral position on healthcare.
Keep up the good work on getting this issue to the pulpits; I think more education is needed.