The Health Care Debate
I have recently seen a couple of posts, comments, etc. from some friends of mine concerning our new march toward socialized medicine in the U.S. (known as: "Health Care Reform," "the Health Care bill," "Obamacare," etc.), and feel a need to reply, but simply putting a 160 character sound bite on someone's Facebook wall really doesn't do what I'm thinking any justice. So, to anyone who cares what I think about the state of healthcare, "the bill," or whether the government should tax (more) to provide universal coverage, I give you my musings.
First, the bill is done and signed. It is law and for now the process has started down the path, so there's really no more debating at a national level as to whether we will have a law in place, now it's a matter of figuring out what to do with the law we now have. By all means is this not over... I do believe that the mandates it places on the States and the expansion of Federal power that it brings is unconstitutional. Under the 10th Amendment, this is something to be decided on at the state level and I know that several States are challenging the Federal mandates on these grounds. I hope that, for our wallet and relationship with our doctors' sake that we see a reversal on these grounds.
Second, let's assume that the bill goes through all of the legal review and the Supreme Court upholds its' constitutionality. Then what? Well, my friends, it's the law of the land. Unless the law changes. The great system of government we have allows us to change leadership (and in some cases like this, the law through legislative changes), and there's our recourse. Let's plan to use it and peacefully bring positive change if indeed the national climate is opposed to the bill, which I believe it is.
Let's assume, however, for a second that socialized medicine DOES become the law of the land... I'd like to address some of the rhetoric I've heard out there.
Is it "stealing?" Taxation is Biblical, so if as a nation we decide to prioritize the health and well-being of our citizens through a single-payer government healthcare system, then it is the government's right to assess those taxes. This is what we're asking for... if you don't think that your taxes will go up with this new system, then you haven't talked to anyone in Europe. According to many (based on different metrics than ours), their systems "work for them" and they willingly pay the high taxes. In Jesus' time, many people considered the Roman taxes as "theft" and considered the tax collectors as thieves for merely collecting taxes (the above the top they did was, in fact, stealing), but Jesus talked to and dined with tax collectors - he de-marginalized them and when he called Matthew at (his) tax collectors' booth, Jesus simply said "follow me" but didn't (at least as recorded in the Bible) ask him to stop collecting taxes. In a later debate, Jesus stated that we should "render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and render to God what is God's." If we are in this socialized medicine world and it becomes law, this is the way I believe we should approach it as well.
What really concerns me: When I was in grad school, I was an Assistant Instructor for a course on economics and public policy at Indiana University. In that course, we talked about public goods such as pollution, traffic, etc. and the interactions that government does (and in cases should) have when it comes to businesses and/or individuals infringing on others' freedoms through their actions. Some of the stuff we presented was left-leaning (like we discussed cap and trade) but it allowed me to see that side of the coin when it comes to these issues.
When it comes to health care and taxation (see above), what it means to me as a taxpayer is that because all health costs are pooled and comes from the single payer system, the collective health decisions of every single American impacts us through either a.) increasing the total cost of the system and thus your taxes, or b.) causing a need for rationing because demand for healthcare services can't be met with the resources that we have. For example, I love The Biggest Loser and one of the biggest "wow!" moments I got from watching the show was to see how much a contestant that was (because of their obesity) dependent on several medications to keep them regulated and that through becoming healthy saved themselves almost three quarters of a million dollars over their lifetime in prescription meds alone. In a single-payer socialized system, would those then (because we are socialized) become my costs? Let's be honest, we are one of the unhealthiest nations in the Industrialized World... do you not think that's contributing the high costs of our healthcare system?
In that case (and I'm talking hypothetically), how you maintain your health now impacts me and I would (as a rational citizen that doesn't want to be impacted by others' poor health choices) want these things to be regulated (assuming I am a healthy person taking on too much cost relative to my health care need). Now, play the movie out and it's not just soda machines in schools that are being restricted but it's about every "unhealthy" activity we could participate in. Perhaps taxes are levied on foods high in trans-fats and HFCS (not something I'm altogether opposed to), perhaps if your BMI is over a certain level that you're imposed with extra taxes, you're required to (not optional as it is today) visit the doctor for a mandatory screening every year... you see where this could be heading? The government is now (literally) in your body, and has the right to regulate how you live. Now, let me say that these are good behaviors and I recommend that everyone get a yearly physical, exercise 3x a week, and avoid trans fats and HFCS as much as possible, but I don't think that Uncle Sam should be forcing us to do these things. They are ultimately our choice... but perhaps not if we go down the current path.
We should be free people, as our founding fathers designed our system to be. The Federal government should not be our mom, telling individuals what we should and should not do when it comes to fairly private and family matters like our own health. However, socializing this system could very well change that, because when we're all paying for each other these decisions cease to be private. And that deeply concerns me.
However, if it becomes the law of the land, it's something that I imagine we'll get to live with. And Jesus did tell us that the government is there and instituted by God. Including one that mandates socialized medicine. Perhaps if we as Christians care about this direction, beyond voting and speaking our mind in our national discourse, we should also pray.
That's my $0.02 :-)
First, the bill is done and signed. It is law and for now the process has started down the path, so there's really no more debating at a national level as to whether we will have a law in place, now it's a matter of figuring out what to do with the law we now have. By all means is this not over... I do believe that the mandates it places on the States and the expansion of Federal power that it brings is unconstitutional. Under the 10th Amendment, this is something to be decided on at the state level and I know that several States are challenging the Federal mandates on these grounds. I hope that, for our wallet and relationship with our doctors' sake that we see a reversal on these grounds.
Second, let's assume that the bill goes through all of the legal review and the Supreme Court upholds its' constitutionality. Then what? Well, my friends, it's the law of the land. Unless the law changes. The great system of government we have allows us to change leadership (and in some cases like this, the law through legislative changes), and there's our recourse. Let's plan to use it and peacefully bring positive change if indeed the national climate is opposed to the bill, which I believe it is.
Let's assume, however, for a second that socialized medicine DOES become the law of the land... I'd like to address some of the rhetoric I've heard out there.
Is it "stealing?" Taxation is Biblical, so if as a nation we decide to prioritize the health and well-being of our citizens through a single-payer government healthcare system, then it is the government's right to assess those taxes. This is what we're asking for... if you don't think that your taxes will go up with this new system, then you haven't talked to anyone in Europe. According to many (based on different metrics than ours), their systems "work for them" and they willingly pay the high taxes. In Jesus' time, many people considered the Roman taxes as "theft" and considered the tax collectors as thieves for merely collecting taxes (the above the top they did was, in fact, stealing), but Jesus talked to and dined with tax collectors - he de-marginalized them and when he called Matthew at (his) tax collectors' booth, Jesus simply said "follow me" but didn't (at least as recorded in the Bible) ask him to stop collecting taxes. In a later debate, Jesus stated that we should "render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and render to God what is God's." If we are in this socialized medicine world and it becomes law, this is the way I believe we should approach it as well.
What really concerns me: When I was in grad school, I was an Assistant Instructor for a course on economics and public policy at Indiana University. In that course, we talked about public goods such as pollution, traffic, etc. and the interactions that government does (and in cases should) have when it comes to businesses and/or individuals infringing on others' freedoms through their actions. Some of the stuff we presented was left-leaning (like we discussed cap and trade) but it allowed me to see that side of the coin when it comes to these issues.
When it comes to health care and taxation (see above), what it means to me as a taxpayer is that because all health costs are pooled and comes from the single payer system, the collective health decisions of every single American impacts us through either a.) increasing the total cost of the system and thus your taxes, or b.) causing a need for rationing because demand for healthcare services can't be met with the resources that we have. For example, I love The Biggest Loser and one of the biggest "wow!" moments I got from watching the show was to see how much a contestant that was (because of their obesity) dependent on several medications to keep them regulated and that through becoming healthy saved themselves almost three quarters of a million dollars over their lifetime in prescription meds alone. In a single-payer socialized system, would those then (because we are socialized) become my costs? Let's be honest, we are one of the unhealthiest nations in the Industrialized World... do you not think that's contributing the high costs of our healthcare system?
In that case (and I'm talking hypothetically), how you maintain your health now impacts me and I would (as a rational citizen that doesn't want to be impacted by others' poor health choices) want these things to be regulated (assuming I am a healthy person taking on too much cost relative to my health care need). Now, play the movie out and it's not just soda machines in schools that are being restricted but it's about every "unhealthy" activity we could participate in. Perhaps taxes are levied on foods high in trans-fats and HFCS (not something I'm altogether opposed to), perhaps if your BMI is over a certain level that you're imposed with extra taxes, you're required to (not optional as it is today) visit the doctor for a mandatory screening every year... you see where this could be heading? The government is now (literally) in your body, and has the right to regulate how you live. Now, let me say that these are good behaviors and I recommend that everyone get a yearly physical, exercise 3x a week, and avoid trans fats and HFCS as much as possible, but I don't think that Uncle Sam should be forcing us to do these things. They are ultimately our choice... but perhaps not if we go down the current path.
We should be free people, as our founding fathers designed our system to be. The Federal government should not be our mom, telling individuals what we should and should not do when it comes to fairly private and family matters like our own health. However, socializing this system could very well change that, because when we're all paying for each other these decisions cease to be private. And that deeply concerns me.
However, if it becomes the law of the land, it's something that I imagine we'll get to live with. And Jesus did tell us that the government is there and instituted by God. Including one that mandates socialized medicine. Perhaps if we as Christians care about this direction, beyond voting and speaking our mind in our national discourse, we should also pray.
That's my $0.02 :-)
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