Why Healthcare Reform Matters

In a process that’s probably repeated across countless employers every year, at my workplace it’s the time of year the folks from our HR department present the proposed health insurance options to all the rest of the employees. Unlike previous years though, this year their have been signs that the proposed health insurance plan and costs were not going to be good. In fact in one company email about upcoming informational meetings we were reminded “not to shoot the messenger” and to “remain professional”. These admonitions really set off warning bells and later when we found out the costs it was readily apparent why.

I am fortunate that my employer pays the health insurance cost the the employee. Or at least they paid all of it till a couple of years ago where the employee had to chip in a nominal amount each pay period. If you want your spouse of children insured you have to pay for it. The co-pays have doubled over the past few years and now we pay a $40 co-pay each visit for most stuff. The current proposal maintains the $40 co-pay but the monthly costs have increased. If you work for my employer, and you want to provide health insurance to your spouse and children it will cost you $989.88 a month. An entry level employee may make as little as $1,400 per month at my workplace. How is someone who makes a wage like this supposed to be able to afford to provide health insurance for their family? This $1,400 per month is before taxes, withholding, etc. Could you live on a couple of hundred dollars a month?

One of my co-worker’s adult daughter works a full time job and two part time jobs. However, none of them provide health benefits. She recently fell and broke her arm. She went to the doctor and tried to get it treated but was told that because she had no insurance she would not be seen. Weeks later she managed to find a doctor who agreed to see her even without insurance but he wanted $10,000 in cash up front to set her arm. If she had $10,000 in cash in her pocket do you really think she’d be without health insurance in the first place?

I work in law enforcement. Several months ago we had a lady shot in the chest by an angry ex-boyfriend. She was fortunate in the fact that the bullet passed through her breast without striking anything major and lodged in her upper arm. The one wound was a clean through and through wound while the one in her upper arm wasn’t too serious all things considered. When these types of incidents happen, the police will arrange with the hospital to collect the bullet after it’s been removed by the doctors. The recovered bullet is a crucial piece of evidence. When our detective went to arrange with the hospital to collect the bullet, he was told they would not remove the bullet because the victim had no insurance. If she had insurance, they would remove it because a bullet is not supposed to be inside your body and generally causes problems if left there. If the best course of treatment for a bullet wound is to remove the bullet, why is there two standards of care, one for the insured, one for the non-insured?

The United States is one of the richest nations on earth yet, we do not provide any sort of health insurance for our nations citizens. We are one of the only industrialized nations on earth that does not provide any sort of health insurance or health care to it’s citizens. How do we reconcile this to the biblical admonition to provide for the needs of the poor? Here’s just a couple.

If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. – Deuteronomy 15:7-8 ESV

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? – James 2:15-16 ESV

The sad thing is, it’s not even just the very poor in the US who lack health insurance or access to health care. Texas, the state where I live has one of the highest rates of people with full time jobs and no health insurance. Some studies show as many as 1 in four Texans have no health insurance.

At the height of the Iraq war we were spending $10 billion dollars a month to prosecute a war of dubious merits. Why is it, we can afford this but we can’t afford to provide health insurance for our citizens?

Shalom,

Scott D