Email

I received this interesting email today, I thought I would share it and my response to it.

"Hi Amanda,
I read with interest your blog about the “Free Healthcare Now” petition. I too received one, so when I found your comments from a Google search, I was very interested with what you as a Christian believer had to say.

I am not clear on a few of your points, however:
1. You said that the USA has one of the highest infant mortality rates and the lowest life expectancy rates among many nations.
What facts do you have to support such claims?
2. You cite anecdotal evidence that our health care system is inferior to that of countries such as Canada, Europe, etc. that have socialized medicine. What facts do you have to support such claims?

The late great senator from New York, Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said “Everyone has a right to their own OPINIONS, but everyone does not have a right to their own FACTS.”

The 46,000,000 your blog says are not insured are inflated numbers: many of those included in that number are illegal aliens, who have seriously taxed the health care system in this country. I do not think a discussion of nationalized healthcare should be tainted with cooked statistics. Taking care of the medical needs of illegal aliens is not the task of the United States. If private, philanthropic and religious groups take care of this, that is well and good; it does not seem to me that this is the responsibility of our country.

You thoughts to these matters would be appreciated.


J ******* of Metro Atlanta Georgia"

My response:

Hi Jon,

The CDC is the one who says that we have the highest infant mortality rate of the western world, They do make their calculations per capata - so population has little to do with the actual rate - I also recently read an article that claimed the calculations could be skewed because we report more accurately than other countries - I tend to think that is an excuse, however; the life expectancy in America is also lagging behind these other countries - and I'm not sure how one could argue that statistic as skewed by reporting - either you're dead or you're not.

Many people, myself included, accept lousy coverage as opposed to no coverage. If a nationalized health plan, similar to Medicare and Medicaid is passed, I think that many people who are currently insured will jump ship with the lousy coverage they have, and try out the new national coverage. So the 46 million anticipated to flood the system could be quite a bit higher.

I've heard a lot of arguments for and against nationalized health care - most of them boil down to money.
The people who have money to afford good coverage or good coverage provided by an employer as part of their compensation- want to keep the current system because they believe that when they get sick, or when their loved one gets sick they will have the care they need. Many of these same people also believe that they are taxed enough already, and should not have to pay for more and more spending.

While I agree that I am taxed enough already, I can not in good conscience, agree that whomever has the money should get good health care, and whomever doesn't - shouldn't. As a Christian my example is Christ - Love God first and love others as I love myself - I can not imagine treating myself, or agreeing to a plan to treat myself, as many Americans are currently treated - which is not at all. Currently I don't have a doctor - I didn't see them for over 18 months so they dropped me from their practice, if I am sick I go to Urgent care which costs me $100.00 a pop - at least they will see me - this is why I hadn't been to my doc in so long, when I was sick they couldn't see me for days, so I would go to urgent care rather than suffer for 4 or 5 more days. My son's have a doctor - who I called last week when my oldest managed to find a nail to step on (that went through his shoe and into his foot.) I have learned that when I call them - I don't come out and just tell them what I want until I ask questions to figure out what is needed- I asked them when his last tetanus shot was - it had been 5 years ago this July, then I then told them what was going on. The receptionist, qualified health care worker that she is, informed me he didn't need a tetanus shot, I asked to speak to the nurse who said he probably did need the shot, but they couldn't see us for 4 or 5 days - she recommended the ER. We ended up going to the health department that afternoon for their shot clinic - they gave my son the shot he needed free of charge, they would not take my insurance card, or money. Now I can tell you someone paid for that shot!

The argument that those with money to afford good health care should be allowed to do so, is in itself flawed. The fact is our current system is overwhelmed, people are going to the ER for silly things like a tetanus shot! The government, meaning my tax dollars, ended up paying for a shot that I had insurance to cover, because of a system that is completely broken. The second problem with the system as it stands currently is if you develop a disease that will take hundreds of thousands of dollars to treat, and will make it so you can not work - you will quickly find yourself out of a job, and uninsured - forcing our government to pick up the tab under our current medicaid program.
I have a friend who was recently treated for cancer - horrible ordeal he went through - he was young enough that he was still working, took FMLA and returned to work a few months after surgery. His employer had to pay a percentage of his costs, if layoffs come around at his work place, who do you think is going to be laid off first? Then my friend with a pre-existing condition will have no coverage, and if he can't work due to a recurrence in his condition he will be forced onto Medicaid.
This addresses the final argument that many people have about nationalized health care - the government is going to be the only insurer, and we won't have a choice. You may be right. Unless insurance companies change their practices, they will most certainly be out of a job. I am not in favor of a government run system, I am in favor of an insurance plan like Medicaid that I can buy into, if I chose to - this is the plan that has the widest approval over all. I hope this is the plan that is implemented because it will force large national for profit companies to cut profits and start making a difference.

The main problem that I see with any plan is the flood of people that it is going to send into the system. I don't think for a second that the hospitals are going to change how they do business - private insurer's reimburse them at a higher rate, and more quickly than Medicare or Medicaid. Unless a claim is over a certain threshold, private insurer's pay without much questioning, Medicaid and Medicare have a process which scrutinizes every claim - doctor's, nurses, hospitals, even social service workers - know this, and treat those insured under private plans much better than those under medicaid - they almost look at a medicaid patient as a freebie - nobody is going to get paid. That's why people who are the poorest of the poor are dumped off on Faith Mission, after minimal care.
I also think that employers- seeking greater profits in a down economy - are going to dump their employees off onto the government. Large employers - like Walmart - have already done this - actually circulating fliers to teach low income employees how to apply for and get medicaid in their states.
As a Christian - I see that the love of money - the root of all evil - rules this world - from the poor to the rich - everyone has their hand out, no one wants to pay - everyone wants greater profits.
This makes me very sad - I see nationalized health care as 1 small step in a direction of moral responsibility for others. People hate it when you say that - they scream "socialist" - but I am not a Socialist, or a Marxist, or a Humanist - these all lower the standards to make everyone the same. I believe we should raise the standards to make things more just. Actions have consequences and even under grace we have to live with those, so not everyone should be treated the same - but everyone should be treated as we would want to be treated, showing mercy towards one another, because of the Great Mercy that was shown to us.
In the early church (1AD) to whom do you think the sick went? When I visited Kenya this past summer I saw the church functioning as it should- the sick go to the pastor - he, with the help of a nurse, treated most common illnesses, only the very very sick actually went to the hospital (I have only heard of 2 people in their village in the past year who went to the hospital) While I ultimately believe that the church should fill the gap in health care, churches with a Nurse Practitioner on staff could offer walk in free appointments and a chance to show people how much we care- I don't ever see that happening - we can't even fill the gap in the Wednesday night service or Bible study departments!
So who will fill that gap? You have the choice between two lousy providers - Our Government and For Profit Insurer's. As usual the fault for the state of things in this country being what it is - falls completely on the Church. We have not through example or action done much of anything to help avert or deal with this crisis - if the Church would step up and do the things that Jesus commanded us to do, Barack Obama would be out of things to change.

Some facts mixed in with my 2cents
Amanda