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Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Part Two by Rachel

To read the first part of this discussion click here.

Cheers

I’m back. Again. Talking about health care. Again. Sorry.

First off, this isn’t an attempt to convert anyone to my views. It’s simply to provoke thinking. As Christians we are called to glorify God in everything, whether it’s in the necessities of life like eating and drinking or the issues that affect us as nations. We shouldn't come to beliefs because it’s the ‘party line’, or because of an emotional response to a situation; all our beliefs should be examined and held up next to the Word of God. If they don’t fit with that, then we abandon them and submit to Scripture. And having done that, we don’t use our new found conviction as a rock to hammer people over the head because “my beliefs are biblical, and I don’t know how any Christian can believe that, you heathen!”….or something like that.

Having said all that, a few reasons why I do not agree with socialized health care. I’m deliberately avoiding any ‘horror stories’, because there are tragic stories from both sides. Moreover, just because things go wrong – even terribly wrong – in a system does not necessarily mean that the system is wrong. It’s possible that the theory of the system is right and good, but it has been put into effect badly. And while stories of personal experience are very emotive unless our emotions and Scripture coincide, it’s not good enough.

The Bible is pretty clear in speaking about charity, but just in case you’ve missed it, it considers charity a rather good thing. Charity, is when you see a need and you contribute towards meeting that need recognizing that what we have is not ours, but has been entrusted to us by God. So contributing to Little Tait’s Fund (http://www.littletait.com/) would be charity. On the other hand, the government telling me I’m must give a set amount of money, regardless of how much I can afford, and forcibly taking this money from me or imprisoning me if I refuse. That, is called theft.

But if we knew our money were going to a cause like Little Tait, we’d probably be glad to give what we could, and possibly even feel grateful that our government cared enough about this little babies’ life. The reality of socialized health care is that our money does not go to one or two noble cases, it goes to anything covered. It could contribute to cancer care, cardiology care, abortions, sex changes, cosmetic surgery performed for psychological reasons (and I’m not talking about burn victims). Socialized health care means that the government forces me to contribute to things that God declares corrupt.

Socialized health care never attains the standards of a truly private health care despite hefty taxation, it simply doesn’t have the money. This means that some people must be eliminated from the system. Smokers, obese people, alcoholics etc. will often be refused treatment. When available funds are limited and you have two people in need of a transplant – one a smoker, one a non-smoker, the government will choose the non-smoker. Our gut reaction to that tends to be “good! Why should someone who has cared for their health suffer?” But the person that you consider to have behaved foolishly has paid into socialized health care too, and they have paid in the belief that when they are ill, they will receive the necessary care. I object to people paying for a service in good faith and then being denied it when they need it most.

Budget concerns will also mean that certain equipment and drugs will not be provided, there are drugs and medical equipment currently readily available in the US that the NHS cannot afford to provide, despite knowing that these drugs and equipment are often more effective. A government monopoly on health care is also bad for the economy because it eliminates a free market, it’s no longer two companies on an equal footing competing and the best man wins. It’s the government. And the government can ensure that their interests continue to exist, regardless of whether they are actually any good. And while they provide an inferior service, they'll keep taking your money to fund it.

I could go on, but I only wanted to provoke thoughts, and you have lives to lead which involve more than agreeing or disagreeing with an Irish lass on the internet. Leave a comment, I love reading them. And then, take a deep breath and plunge back into your day.

love,




PS. I highly recommend listening to this - Faith, Liberty, and Charity: A Biblical Worldview of Healthcare (MP3)

5 comments:

Becky K. said...

I will be back to read this post. It looks very interesting!!

Melissa you have been tagged at my blog.

Becky

Lauren said...

I also know more than a few physicians who say that the current proposed plan means that any and all doctors who are able to quit, will. Then who is going to care for us? Frankly, it's not a very popular thing to say, but foreign immigrants who were trained at international schools that have NOWHERE near the standards of Western medicine. Plus, there's often a language barrier. I know my hard-of-hearing relatives would not relish trying to discern what an English-as-a-second-or-third language doctor was trying to tell them regarding their medications or test results. :/

Like I said in my comment on the first post, YES we desperately need some changes to our current system. But it's a huge mistake to think that any change is the best one, or even a good one.

Thanks for the informative post! These are definitely points that can't be disputed.

Brittany Ann said...

Oh, Rachel, how I love you!

And, I love your little bits of humor!

"The Bible is pretty clear in speaking about charity, but just in case you’ve missed it, it considers charity a rather good thing." - I died laughing at your sarcasm here!

Thanks for taking the time to share such good information with us!

Come visit us back in Florida! Please? Pretty please?

Randi Troxell said...

Rachel and Melisa... You both are wonderful... and I think I'm totally on your side of the tracks on this one...

Thank you for the wonderful post!!

Unknown said...

I appreciate that you challenge us as readers to examine Scripture in regards to this issue. Thank you for clearly explaining.