Today my daughter is sick. Fortunately she has some insurance so if it turns out that a visit to the doctor is needed, she can go. Yet I believe their plan requires many simple doctor visits to be paid in full by them. What does a "simple" visit cost these days? I saw a $325 tag on one recent visit of mine that went to the insurance company. How many hours of work does it take for you to earn $325?
My real question is how do 'we', the church, talk about this? I believe it is a moral issue. Not that government is obliged to provide health care, but that a society that comes together for the mutual good of its citizens, must realize that health care is part of mutual good. Maybe in today's world of raging viruses, it could even be considered mutual defense. How we do that is certainly worth talking about - CIVILLY.
How can it be that only those who can afford it, get health care? Certainly those with money should be able to buy the best care available, but why does that seem to mean (in America at least) that others get NO care? Shouldn't the church be talking about this, as much as we did/do civil rights?
I'm afraid that our opinions are too influenced by lobbies that persuade not just elected representatives but the average person through media buys and talk-shows.
Today's highlight came from Conan, who said, "Now that the House Republicans have repealed the health care bill, they are going to talk about this whole woman-voting thing."
The December 28 issue of Christian Century had a cartoon of two men sitting at a bar. 't-shirt-beer guy' says to 'suit-martini guy', "As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy."
Since I have a blog, I get to 'talk' like this. But since I am a pastor, shouldn't I (and we) find a way to talk together? I think this will be my prayer in 2011.
Meanwhile, I close with a couple quotes from 2010 that Christian Century highlighted.
"The wisest man I know—my father—when I got into
politics, made me promise one thing, that I would always remember
that Judgment Day is more important than Election Day,
and that it's more important to do what's right than what's easy."
—Representative Tom Perriello,
a Democrat from Virginia who lost his reelection bid, in his
concession speech to supporters
and then there is hope:
"I see this as God moving in our time, and also
asking us to get with the program. And, basically,
what we need to finish the job, to overcome hunger and poverty,
is more organized give-a-damn."
—David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World
and winner of the 2010 World Food Prize, on the fact
that in the past two to three decades more progress
has been made against hunger, poverty and disease
than at any other time in history.
1 comment:
Yes. I think churches should be talking about this. At the 2009 General Convention of the Episcopal Church we passed a resolution that required churches to provide insurance for all employees that work 1000 hours a year or more, lay and ordined. And then we authorized the creation of an Epscopal based insuranced company so that churches could urchase insurance at a reasonable affordable rate.
Good idea. But I'm not sure how well it s being developed and implemented...sigh
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