Two posts in two days. Whoa, now I’m on a roll. 
I wanted to share a little of what is going on in my life first, and then share some thoughts on what may be controversial. So here goes nothing.
First, I have been struggling with insecurities lately. Does anyone else have that problem other than me? It seems like at times what other people think doesn’t matter. I can live my life confident in my identity as a child of God. Passages of God’s love for me, like Romans 8, 1 John 4, and so many others are easy to have faith in. And then, without warning, and sometimes even without explanation, my insecurities kick in. I think most of the time it has to do with how physically, mentally, or spiritually exhausted I have been. Given my moving into a new part of the state, leaving the community that I have loved for the past two years, and even leaving a lot of my support network that I have grown accustomed to, I think I have been quite exhausted these last 3 weeks, and that may explain a lot of my recent bouts of insecurities. I also think that my struggles deal with past experiences that aren’t fully healed yet. A really good friend of mine said that we will never be fully healed, but only that we can hope to have experiences which salve the wounds that we struggle with. I believe that it is God’s desire for healing. For restoration. I guess I do carry a notion that the healing will not occur completely in this life, and that only in the restoration of all things that comes with the fullness of heaven will that healing also be complete. Part of me also wants to be an idealist if only for a moment, and believe that healing is fully possible in this life. Regardless, I think that my insecurities impact my relationships with so many people and communities and institutions and even God, and therefor, I am asking for you to pray that I will overcome my insecurities, and that I will find peace in knowing that I am God’s beloved. In many ways, as I write this, that request seems selfish, with all of the other healing that needs to occur in this world. So please, don’t forget to pray for an end to war, and for healing for broken families, broken communities, and even a very young daughter of a good friend of mine who is having kidney problems and has been in the hospital for 11 days now. All they want is for her to pee. Her name is Eden.
Along that same train of thought, at least in my head 
, is the issue of health care in our country. Here is where I might get a little controversial. I hope you will set aside any preconceived notions or strong feelings you may already have on the topic, and try to think about what I am saying from an objective perspective. I think most Americans think that there is something wrong with our health care system. I spent a long three years of my life during my adolescence visiting the hospital often as my father struggled first with arrhythmia, and then heart failure, before he passed away at the young age of 43. I am only now beginning to have a better understanding of the toll that struggle had on my mother. I have also seen others struggle with loved ones, or themselves, and the hardships of long battles with disease, or frail health. The thought of having to add the weight of worrying about how the hospital bills are going to be paid, and making decisions about what type of treatments to undertake based on whether or not someone is uninsured, or under insured seems fraught with indifference. As Christians, we often will go to immeasurable lengths to help the healing of someones soul. I think this speaks positively about our belief in people as “imperishable treasure,” or of ultimate value. But, as I wrote in my last post, I don’t think God only intends to heal or redeem our souls, but also our bodies. Even if you don’t agree with that belief, if you believe in the value of a soul, you would have to say that any way in which we can express God’s love for a person is something that we must wrecklessly attempt to do. And so I am of the opinion that the Church should be at the forefront in pushing for health care reform, especially universal health insurance coverage. I am uncertain of any argument that can be made opposed to universal health care coverage that doesn’t leave one questioning whether a person, or money, is more valuable.
I also think that a part of health care reform that we must strive for, but for which I am not as convinced the Church should drive, is that of torte reform. If the Bible teaches that we should strive to settle our debts as quickly as possible, and try settle all disputes out of court before going to court, and that we should extend grace to all of our fellow man, then I believe we should put limits on the financial damages that a doctor can incur as a result of any mistake made which impacts the health of another person. Not only does this dramatically increase the cost of malpractice insurance and therefor all of health care unnecessarily, it also creates an unrealistic and un-grace-filled expectation that all doctors must be perfect. I think that we can come up with other, more realistic and pragmatic forms of holding our doctors accountable to high standards of medicine.
Well, those are my thoughts. Feel free to add to the discussion.
A couple of points:
(1) I disagree with your statement that the Church should be at the forefront of pushing for health care reform. I think that instead, the Church should be at the forefront of BEING health care reform. I feel like us pushing for reform puts too much focus on a Government solution at the expense of Christ’s imperative to love and provide for those in need with what he has given us.
(2) I feel as though the words “universal health insurance” are too imprecise to be used in debate. It assumes that we all mean the same thing, but I don’t think that is the case. We all have different minimum expectations and priorities when it comes to something like health.
(3) I would be careful when dismissing arguments that disagree with universal health insurance as being about putting money above people. While there are many who do argue against universal health care out of selfish motivations, there are those of us who believe that universal health insurance is not a solution that will effectively bring us to the goal of better health care for everyone. Don’t be dismissive of our arguments as ill intentioned just because you disagree.
Thanks for a post that got me thinking =)
Thank you for your input Colin. I appreciate different perspectives. I have a few thoughts in reply to your response.
1. I agree that the church should be healthcare reform. Unfortunately I feel as though the church has created its own stereotype in which often the church uses most of its money for programs, buildings, and staff. This makes it difficult to obtain the funds necessary for truly providing for the physical needs of people. I have also personally experienced a great deal of extreme bureaucracy when it comes to distribution of resources which the church has set aside to meet physical needs such as food, money for bills, and healthcare. This is not to say that the government is a better venue for reform, but simply that in order for reform to take place, the conversation has to begin to take place, and we must be willing to scrutinize whatever platform we choose to utilize for health care reform.
2. When I say universal health insurance, I mean providing affordable health care to every man, woman, and child. Nothing more, nothing less. I think that affordable must be defined as health care which does not require an individual or family system to acquire credit in order for the health care needs to be met. I understand that this definition can not be taken literally when striving for health care reform. However, simply because it is an ideal and not entirely realistic does not mean that it should be discounted.
3. I am extremely open to any other ways in which to provide affordable health care to every man, woman, and child. Please feel free to make me aware of any alternative solution which may provide an improvement over our current system of health care. Please understand that I believe strongly that reform of some type must be implemented soon. It is time we rose above partisanship, and agreed to try and support a method of reform, willing to admit that it might have weaknesses, and create a system which change can be made quickly to improve any deficiencies within the agreed upon system, including trying an entirely different system.
Thanks again for your thoughts. I like it when people are willing to engage in a conversation. Hopefully it will produce some productive insights for all involved.