Health Care Reform

Forgive me for talking about a sensitive topic, but this is something that needs to be dealt with.  As a Bible believing Christian whose desire is to follow Christ and my own convictions, how can we leave 48 million Americans uninsured and left to rot away?  Sure there’s medicare that covers people over 60 (or 65) and there’s Medicaid for people under 18 (and pregnant mothers), but what about everyone in-between?  Did Jesus refuse to heal people if they didn’t fit his criteria? 

Absolutely not.

I don’t see how anyone who is a Christian cannot be for health care reform in some form.  Studies have shown (from the World Health Organization) that America’s healthcare, which supposedly is the best in the world, ranks 37^th, right below Costa Rica and right above Slovenia.

(http://www.who.int/whr/2000/media_centre/press_release/en/index.html)

I’d like to go back to my favorite person in history.  Jesus.  I believe Jesus was 100% man and 100% God (that’s another debate for a different time).  When Jesus went out and performed the miracles He did, I believe He did them for two reasons.

First, He performed miracles as proof He really was the Son of God.  Simple enough.

Second, He performed miracles (mainly healings) out of his compassion for people.  Believe it or not, healing people was only the first step.  He wanted to give them their health back, but He also wanted to restore them to society. 

One example—Lepers were outcasts.  They were completely separate from the city.  Exiled.  Never to be heard from again.  When Jesus healed lepers, did he say to hide out in the country?  No.  He gave them their entire life back—not just their health.  This meant they could come back to the city, eat with their family, talk with their friends, and live a life that was almost foreign to them.  They were normal.

Now, how can a Christian be against something that would likely give these 48 million people hope. 

Let me explain a story from my life.  It’s rather lengthy so if you’re pressed for time, skip down to “And that brings me to today…”

In college, my wife and I were broke.  Flat broke.  We lived in Government subsidized housing, we were on food stamps, and we were barely making it.  We each worked three Federal Work Study jobs each while at the same time, full time college students.  There was no wiggle room—no slush fund.  Nothing. 

My family has a history of back problems and it was only a matter of time before mine developed.  Little did I know, it would be in the poorest time of my life.  My back was in so much pain, my legs would go numb and nothing would help.  I spent hours in prayer by myself, with my wife, and with friends and faculty from Trinity Bible College for 2 years.  God was the first person I went to but at the same time, I was looking for options.

One of my professors, who was more like a friend, suggested I check into sliding scale clinics.  These are clinics (funded by both private investors & the government) that base your bill on your income.  Praise God—I’ve found a place that can help me.  After numerous visits to this clinic, they referred me to a hospital where I could get an MRI.  The first question I asked was, how much?  Fortunately, they could refer a patient to a hospital for a specific service one time. 

So the MRI comes back and I had a bulged disc between my L5-S1 that was pinching a nerve that ran down my leg.  If it went untreated, it would indefinitely herniate. 

Panic.

So I go back to the clinic (which the clinic was in Fargo, a 2 ½ hour drive) where they refer me to a Neurologist.  Free (because the referral policy).  The neurologist recommended a set of three steroidal epidural injections, one month apart.  So I went back to the clinic to get another referral to a hospital for the epidural.  Again, every time, I have to drive 2 ½ hours for each trip.  I get the referral and set up the epidural injection appointment. 

I get the epidural and a couple of days later, I feel relief that I cannot put into words.  I could do things I would have never done before without pain.  I was able to work out again.  I was able to sit on bleachers again.  I was able to basically anything I wanted. 

That’s when it hit me.  I could only be referred once.  I called the clinic seeing if there was anything I could do.  I called the hospital I had the epidural at and asked how much it would cost out of pocket.  $1,900. 

Simply not possible.

And that brings me to today.  Thankfully, after 2 years, I got a job with the State of Nebraska where I have reliable health insurance that covers the procedures I need.  Thankfully, the insurance coverage I have did not deny me for preexisting conditions.  Thankfully, I have a God who is concerned for me.

I know there are more out there who were just like me.  Out of options and forced to live without hope.  Out of options.  Out of time.  I’m thankful that my condition is not life threatening.  But what about those who are not fortunate enough to have survived the recession and lost their job, subsequently losing their health insurance? 

Tough luck?

Christ came for the down and out.  He despised the Pharisees who thought they had everything and were well covered.  He came to save a sinner like me.  He came to restore me to society.  He came to give me life and life to the fullest. 

Health care reform is needed.  What we need is health care companies who care for the patients instead of their money and that is exactly what is going to happen if they have to compete with a government option.  It’s my understanding that competition is what fuels our economy.  That’s why we have anti-monopoly and fair practices laws.  

Example:  Since Blue Cross Blue Shield (which, ironically is my insurance carrier), turned for-profit, they have been denying claims while raising rates.  Case in point.  BCBS of Massachusetts CEO, Cleve Killingsworth’s salary rose 26% while membership declined and it’s net income fell 49%

(http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2009/02/28/blue_cross_ceos_pay_rose_26/)

Greed.

Is it a coincidence that Sen. Grassley (R-IA) has said that “he would not support a bill, even if he liked it, unless most of his fellow Republicans signed on.” (Associated Press).   Oh, did I mention that Des Moines, IA is known as the insurance capital of the US and this bill is the Democrats idea?  Party partisan must end.  For the sake of lives.  It must end. 

And for my sake, this must end as well.  My goal here is not to create anger, but rather to open our eyes to something that needs to be changed.

I’ll close with a quote from Richard Beck of Experimental Theology (http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/)

“It's frustrating to me that universal health coverage isn't seen as a moral imperative by more Christians.   Why is it that Christians restrict their moral outrage to abortion and gay marriage? It's just inconsistent and hypocritical. Does that mean that Christian moral outrage cannot be owned by a single political party? Yes, that's exactly what it means. Where's the moral outrage in the Christian community about the uninsured? Churches by and large botched it during the Civil Rights Movement. Let's get on the right side of history this time around.”

The Summer

Well, summer has unofficially ended and that means things are staring to get normal again.  This summer has been pretty crazy between new responsibilities at the church and the new job (aka getting adjusted to 3rd shift).  The job itself is incredibly easy--it's the sleeping that's difficult.

We are seeing tremendous things happen at the church.  Last month, we baptized 11 people at the public pool.  Then there was a second wave of people who wanted to be baptized (many of them new believers) just last week.  Total, we've baptized 18 men, women, boys, and girls just this summer.  That's about 20% of our church!  God is doing some pretty amazing things.  I know numbers don't tell anything about the success of a church, but as a pastor, when you're able to help someone outwardly commit their lives to Christ, you get a sense of pride in them.  Not yourself.

Here's a story.  A lady visited our church the first time we had our baptism (and the feast we had after).  She was so touched by some of the testimonies she decided to come back.  The third time she came back, her daughter came with her.  That Sunday morning she gave her heart to God and the next week she was baptized right alongside her mother.  After being baptized the mother looked at me and the Lead Pastor in tears saying, "I've never felt so light before.  It's like I'm floating."

That's powerful.

It's incredible how God provides.  This past month we were looking at our budget and things we needed for Discovery Clubs (our Wed. night program).  We wanted to make registration as cheap as possible so we could make it more of an outreach.  The books just weren't adding up.  So we prayed without ceasing while coming up with fundraisers.  The fundraisers tanked.  That's when God spoke to me and said that things were going to be ok.  He doesn't need money to be successful.  So after campaigning for materials, games, etc. we were talking to a couple in the church.  They said they'd like to help us out.  After picking up my jaw off the ground, they gave us $300 specifically for Discovery Clubs.  God provides.

As for life outside the church, things are going pretty well.  Nicole and I have just completed baby step one of getting an emergency fund set up for our finances.  And now we're on to step two of starting the debt snowball.  It's incredible how fast money goes sometimes!  We're using some of the principles Dave Ramsey teaches.  I think he has a lot of great ideas, but not all of them work for us.  For example, he stresses using cash for every purchase (except for bills you mail off).  I don't use cash.  Ever.  Except for buying a pop from a vending machine.  So we don't do the envelopes thing, but instead we just stick to a written budget and track how much we spend.  So far it's working.  having a job that pays more than $8.10 an hour helps too...

Other than that, it's been life as normal.  About 3 weeks ago I preached in big boy church.  It was the first time I felt the Spirit move from what I was saying (I'm not saying that I take ownership of the message, I just happened to be the one God worked through).  What a feeling.  It's almost like a rush.

On a random note, I've officially decided that everyone's favorite topic to talk about is themselves.  It's incredible how long some people can talk about where they've been, a funny story they heard (or experienced), or something that they have accomplished.  Is it wrong?  No.  So I've decided to put my own ambitions of making myself look better than them (face it, we all do it) aside and challenged myself to keep the conversation focused on them.  Occasionally I'll throw in a story that I have, but in a way that is non-threatening to the point they are trying to make.  So far the shortest conversation I've had with this in mind has been an hour and that's because I was on the verge of being late to work.  Crazy stuff.

I've officially written too much and talked about myself too much.  See, I didn't even realize I was doing it until I talked about it, but isn't that the point of a blog?  To talk about yourself?  I say it is, and I'm not ashamed.