The most concerning part of a transition to a government health insurance plan is the potential for ethical dilemmas forced upon me, as a Christian paying taxes, and doctors. Particularly in terms of treatment for an aging population and for the unborn.
I am extremely fortunate to have several close friends who are also doctors....and according to the newest ad campaign by the hospital....are real people too! That's quite a relief, buddies. I have had a chance to talk about the health insurance debate with most of them. One said, "I don't know what the big deal is, 50% of our patients are already on a government provided plan". And another followed that up with that fact that it is generally inefficient. But, based on my experience with private health insurance, it can be just as maddening.
As a Christian, I do not, under any circumstance, want the dollars I am paying into the government to go toward prematurely ending life-either the unborn or elderly. And withholding care, in terms of the elderly or unborn, can also be ethically troubling. I have a couple of thoughts here: 1) the exorbitant premiums I am paying to Blue Cross, I assume, may already be paying for ending lives; 2) give to Cesar what is Cesar's (i.e. financially support the Roman soldiers who are killing and raping your neighbors), and 3) until such laws making it legal to end life are overturned, the government is forced into interpreting abortions as medical procedures.
That last line probably really ticked some people off. Here's the thing, since Roe vs. Wade was passed in 1973 there have been Democrats in the White House 13 1/2 of the 36 years. If Republicans really wanted to overturn Roe vs. Wade.......it would have already happened. Christians need to wake up to this. Furthermore, if Christians really wanted to end abortions in this country........I am convinced that it already would have happened, and not through the ballot box, but by making an impact with young men and women. Christians are responsible for the moral decline in this country. Until we understand that.....and stop pointing fingers at people outside of the church......things will continue to slide.
The caveat is this: no one should be forced to take a life. My understanding is that, whether it is part of the current plan, or is attempting to be added, physicians who are trained to perform surgeries will be required to perform abortions. What I did not know is that this is already the law in several states; however, enforcement is non-existent. This particular part of the plan, without regard for conscientious objectors, should not stand. There is nothing gray to me about this.....pretty black and white.
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I am slowly coming to accept that our government IS going to be a part of everybody's healthcare equation. As I have said here before, after having worked for a contractor to CMS, the gov't agency that runs Medicare, I am not thrilled about the prospect -- we will be solving some problems only to take on certain others, the kinds that government is so good at creating. This thought really, really saddens me. It's not like I think that the current "system" is a good thing. That Medicare contractor I worked for was also the nation's largest health insurer. I'm pretty sure it's the one you get your insurance from, HR. I had a little insight into the "private" side of the business and I didn't like everything I saw there, either. (Oh, and I learned early NOT to tell my doctors that I worked for that company, because I usually got an earful.) But government's toolbox is by nature fairly limited, and I'm not sure adequate to this task.
I'm not studied enough on this problem to propose a solution. And I've almost always had employer-provided health insurance, so I've no direct experience with the worst problems of the current "system." Although I'm pretty confident that if I were to step off the corporate bandwagon, my premiums would suddenly become my biggest expense, as I have a couple diagnoses on my records that would render me high-risk in a similar fashion to you.
All I can do is hope and pray that despite the politics and desire for profit here, that decisions will be made that are truly in the peoples' best interest. I'm not optimistic, but I can still hope and pray.
Just watched Jon Stewart's interview of Betsy McCaughey (a healthcare propagandist for the insurance industry and originator of many of the false claims circulating) on the Daily Show. How sad is it that you have to watch a comedy show to hear a substantive discussion about health care. Anyway, Betsy McCaughey is the personification of corporate evil. Okay, maybe that's too harsh, but just barely.
HR: Can you provide a source for the claim that doctors could be forced to perform abortions?
Jeff, did you catch the President of the Gun Owners of America on Chris Matthews Hardball. When asked if he were head of the Secret Service how would he feel about hand guns and semi automatic rifles being present at an event where President Obama was to appear he refused to answer the question!!! The Extreme "right" of the R party boarders on seperatist and anarchists...the socialist nazi scare tactics they are using in the name of greed filled capitalism is un Christian! ( for the record I am a gun owning "D")
Jeff-
I've been down at Sugar Creek this weekend and just getting back. Like you I was suspect of this claim on doctor's and abortion. Let me follow up on the conversation I had with a doctor friend and see if I can track it down.
I'm not certain but the issue about doctors and abortion have to do with Pres. Bush's expansion of the consciencience objection law. As I understand the issue, federal law protects doctors from being forced to protect perform abortions against their objections. President Bush expanded the law to cover more procedures in more circumstances, which was controversial. I think (though not positive) the issue with healthcare reform is that it would repeal the expansion enacted by Bush. I don't know the practical implications of such a repeal but I think the issue only has to do with what Bush enacted, not the pre-existing legal protections provided to doctors. Please feel free to correct me where I'm wrong.
More distortions!!! Have you seen the scary breast cancer commercial. If we have a government plan breast cancer mortality rates will increase just look at England!! Well here are some interesting statistics...the breast cancer incidence rate in the US is 100 per 100,000 in England it is 83 per 100,000, yes the mortality rate in England is slightly higher than in the US but it can hardly be blamed on the health plan! Oh and the way the people running that so called non partisan womans health group who run the ad. is one of the most republican dominiated groups in Washington DC.
2 thoughts.... first, I was a bit disappointed HR, about your white house comment. You, probably more than anyone, know that whoever is in the white house does not have the power to repeal Roe v Wade , but I felt you made it sound that way. second, if it truly became a requirement that physicians would be forced to offer abortions or direct patients to those that do (I doubt that it will come to this), how do you like the idea that the physicians who have the most moral, life-affirming views may well be leaving their profession? Maybe to become a farmer.
JS-
First, I've seen your attempts at farming in your garden....you better stick to doctorin'.
Second, it seems convenient to threaten (not you) Christians with the abortion issue during presidential elections, then say you can't blame the white house when looking at a history of which party controls it. There is no political will to change Roe v. Wade and Christians are continually duped by the right into believing they care about the issue....that was my point.
Like you I don't believe that it could come down to physicians being required to do or refer to those who do abortions....that would trample all over our civil liberties (see earlier post).
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