Universal health insurance will be a "hot button" issue in the upcoming presidential election. Currently, 47 million Americans are without health insurance. Although the U.S. spends more money by far on health care than any of the other developed countries, we are the only developed country, except for South Africa, which does not provide health care for all its citizens. This article weaves facts and Jesus' teachings into a dialogue supporting universal health insurance.

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UNIVERSAL HEALTH INSURANCE: A DIALOGUE WITH THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT

By Peter Wong[1]

1. INTRODUCTION

 

A "hot button" issue facing this country is "universal health insurance." Many on the Christian Right oppose providing health insurance for the nearly 47 million Americans, now without health insurance. The objections include: (1) I don't want to increase my taxes; (2) it is too costly to insure everyone; (2) it is "socialized medicine;" (4) the quality of medical care will be sacrificed, (5) the uninsured are not hard working and, therefore, deserve their uninsured status, etc. The Example Dialogue below supports providing health insurance for all citizens, and addresses the above objections, as well as others.

Because of the "emotional and political baggage" associated with the term universal health care, we have "framed" the issue here as universal health insurance. (See Kao-Ping Chua, Jack Rutledge Fellow 2005-2006, "Framing Universal Health Care," American Medical Student Association, February 10, 2006, at http://www.amsa.org/uhc/FramingUniversalHealthCare.pdf.) The term universal health insurance is meant to encompass single-payer systems used in Canada, U.K., and Europe, and hybrid private-insurance government-based systems like those enacted in Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine, and now being considered in California and Wisconsin, among other states. In our example dialogue below, we are guided by some of the "framing" concepts suggested in the above cited Chua article.

The Example Dialogue is excerpted from the author's syllabus entitled: Let's Dialogue With The Christian Right-A syllabus of strategies, moral values, and Biblical citations (hereafter referred to as "Syllabus"). The Syllabus explains the underlying framework, rationale, and strategy in dialoguing with a member of the Christian Right on "hot button" topics such as abortion, same-sex marriage, embryonic stem cell research, global warming, and immigration.[2] The Syllabus is intended to stimulate discussion and additional research on how to dialogue with the Christian Right, and is suitable for use in workshops and small group discussions. The Syllabus will be available for free downloads from www.micahscall.org in 2008. The anticipated table of contents is in the Appendix.

 

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