Health Care Reform

There is a lot of talk in the United States right now over healthcare reform and if/how to go about doing it. For those of you unfamiliar with the situation I’ll start with a couple of quick stats:

1.) Over 45 million people in the US are uninsured.

2.)  Nearly 1/5 of all US hospital’s emergency room visits are by the uninsured.

3.) “The average cost of a family policy now exceeds $13,000 a year…”

In my view this is unacceptable. Based on GDP we were the richest country in the word in 2008. How can our country produce so much and yet take care of it’s citizens so poorly?

As a United States citizen I view affordable health care as a right not a privilege. There are several plans on the table right now in the US congress on how to deal with the issues of rising healthcare costs and needs in the United States. To my knowledge all of them include some sort of new tax in order to pay for a government related option (i.e. government run healthcare, government regulation of health care, etc.) I am comfortable with the idea of paying a little more in taxes to make sure I can always get health insurance at a reasonably affordable rate.

My wife and I only have health insurance for the first time as a married couple because of the job my wife has. After almost losing her job (and our health insurance) earlier this year we shopped around for other insurance options. We looked at what it would cost to get insurance through my job and via privately provided health insurance plans. I was absolutly shocked to find out that even the least expensive plans (ones that  included some sort of maternity coverage and had a $1,000 deductible) would cost us anywhere from $7,320 to over $15,000 a year. That’s as much or more than we spend in rent on our apartment in a year! There is no way we can afford such costs. It’s just another reason we need reform.

Some things I think would be great to include  in some sort of health care reform:

Cost limits based on income.
If you make $250,000 a year you can afford to pay more for your health insurance than someone who make $25,000.

Preventative Health Care
People need to be better educated about proper health habits and get preventative medicines and health screenings more often. The idea goes like this… If it wasn’t so expensive to be educated or get screened regularly by a doctor there would be less health issues to deal with on a national level.

Affordable Health Food
There needs to be more healthy food options at an affordable price for members of the general public from grocery stores and fast food chains.

The best answer to the healthcare debate may not be the government, but if not the government then who? The cost of health care has been a problem for years. Is it possible that it will no longer be an issue in the near future?

I’ll leave you with this quotes from “Jesus’ Health Care Plan: An editorial by George Barna – Sept. 2009”

You can describe Jesus’ health care strategy in four words: whoever, whatever, whenever, wherever. Whoever needed to be healed received His healing touch. Whatever affliction they suffered from, He addressed it. Whenever the opportunity to heal arose, He seized it. Wherever they happened to be, He took care of it.

Don’t overlook the fact that Jesus called on His followers to personally attend to the health care needs of the poor and disenfranchised. Not only did Jesus model healing for His followers, but He supported such outreach with ample philosophical underpinnings. You see Him teaching His followers before, during and after instances of healing. We are familiar with the principles, but perhaps not their application to health needs.

What do you think?