Socialized Medicine and All That Jazz

From My Friend Seraph (Miguel Rosada) at Seraph Sayshttp://seraph-says.blogspot.com/ :

Socialized Medicine and All That Jazz
Did you hear they are going to do away with private insurance? What are you going to do when they socialize medicine doc? Whatever will happen if they implement universal health care?

It seems I get these types of questions all the time now as the health care debate continues. I have been hesitant to answer not sure of the particulars of all the plans being thrown around....but upon further thought here it is; When there is health coverage for all ... I will hang my stethoscope and take a day off!

Many health care providers, in cooperation with medical societies, churches and other civic organizations throughout our nation volunteer their time and skills to care for people who fall into the category of uninsured. One such charitable venture is the Oasis clinic, founded by my wife, a concerned nurse. It began over 15 years ago, hosted by our local parish, served by wonderful volunteers throughout the years, a place where countless people who are needy and ill have been treated for free. While it is always a blessing to serve others in the name of Christ, this experience has been quite an eye opener!

The uninsured are not some sort of invisible plague, or a mythical class invoked by liberals in Congress, they are real people for whom the system has failed! Many that we treat in our little clinic work and pay taxes, but are unable to purchase insurance because of prohibitive cost! Even for those who are fortunate enough to work where insurance is offered, the choice is often between health are coverage and food or paying their utilities; no choice at all! Because of this lack of affordable access to even basic care, people often wait despite concerning symptoms, and come to clinic with advanced problems. Some wait until there is no choice but to seek help at a hospital Emergency Room.

Even as we commend all who volunteer, we must acknowledge that the care they are able to offer, though given with competence and caring, is not nearly enough to meet the many needs! While politicians, the rich , the lucky, the elderly and very poor complain about the coverage they do have, our unwillingness to extend that right to others stands out as a stain on our society. The status quo we have lived with keeps people at risk, abuses the good will of people of faith and enables inaction!!!

I am all for choice in health care! Choose your hospitals, have choice for your medications choose your doctor..choose me! However, as I see it, that is hardly the issue in our health care fiasco! The issue is that many have no choice at all; it can not get any worse for them! As far as doctors and others who take of their own time, talent and treasure to help the uninsured, it can only improve!

Maybe, when there is universal health care in our country, doctors can actually get paid for the countless hours of free work, that now goes unpaid and unnoticed! And ...just maybe when I am not working I will not have to give up a well deserved day off!!!Blessings Seraph
Posted by seraph at 11:08 AM

PolitiFact | Abortion and the health care reform bill

Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., introduced an amendment to the health care plan that seeks to prohibit public funds from paying for abortions. Abortion has emerged as the latest hot button issue in an already contentious health care reform debate. While some talk about trying to make the bill "abortion neutral," neutrality is often in the eye of the beholder. We decided to wade into the debate to check out the facts surrounding a couple of the more popular claims being made about the plan's effect on abortion.

Read more at the source. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2009/aug/07/abortion-and-health-care-reform-bill/
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PolitiFact | Boehner says Democrats' health care plan would subsidize abortions

After checking with factcheck.org and sending the email to friends, I received the information from PolitiFact found in this post and the next one. Now what do you think?
PolitiFact Boehner says Democrats' health care plan would subsidize abortions

Boehner says Democrats' health care plan would subsidize abortions

In an already contentious health care debate, the last thing the Obama administration wants is a fight over abortion.

The word "abortion" was never mentioned in the initial health care plans released by the House and Senate. The decision of whether to offer abortion coverage in the proposed public plan, then, would be left up to the health and human services secretary. Abortion opponents said that would allow Democrats to slip abortion into the plan as part of the standard coverage.

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Abortion and Healthcare Reform by factcheck.org

http://www.factcheck.org/2009/08/abortion-which-side-is-fabricating/

I received this analysis by email from a friend. What do you think?

Despite what Obama said, the House bill would allow abortions to be covered by a federal plan and by federally subsidized private plans.
August 21, 2009
Updated: August 25, 2009

Summary
Will health care legislation mean "government funding of abortion"? President Obama said Wednesday that’s "not true" and among several "fabrications" being spread by "people who are bearing false witness." But abortion foes say it’s the president who’s making a false claim. "President Obama today brazenly misrepresented the abortion-related component" of health care legislation, said Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee. So which side is right?

The truth is that bills now before Congress don’t require federal money to be used for supporting abortion coverage. So the president is right to that limited extent. But it’s equally true that House and Senate legislation would allow a new "public" insurance plan to cover abortions, despite language added to the House bill that technically forbids using public funds to pay for them. Obama has said in the past that "reproductive services" would be covered by his public plan, so it’s likely that any new federal insurance plan would cover abortion unless Congress expressly prohibits that. Low- and moderate-income persons who would choose the "public plan" would qualify for federal subsidies to purchase it. Private plans that cover abortion also could be purchased with the help of federal subsidies. Therefore, we judge that the president goes too far when he calls the statements that government would be funding abortions "fabrications."


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Calvinism and Health Care Reform

As a Catholic, I am to give a preferential option to the poor. I reaffirm this in my baptismal vows whenever I participate in a baptism during Mass. I was thinking that in other Christian practice and thought, the opposite is sometimes true. When looking for links between Calvinism and the poor, I came across a statement by Ron Beasley, "Calvinism was born in Europe, but took root in the United States." Here is his response to my email asking if he thought Calvinism had a direct effect on the health care reform debate:

"Hello MikeI think that many of the inequality issues, including health care, in this country are the result of the strong Calvinist history of this country. You have because you were chosen by God to have and you don't have because God sees you as unworthy. That's why a few rich and powerful Oligarchs are able to control policy in this country and that includes health care. That is also what C-Street is all about except they carry it a bit further - if you were chosen you can do no wrong. This post doesn't directly speak of Calvinism but it does speak of about the Oligarchs who's power is the result of the Calvinist strain in America."

What do you think?

Other reading: Health care and poor relief in Protestant Europe, 1500-1700 By Dr. Andrew Cunningham, Ole Peter Grell