Some Thoughts on Health Care & Poverty
Would you wait a couple extra days for a check-up so that a friend could get a surgery today? You probably would, because you're a good friend.
There are kids in this country who've never seen a doctor. There are folks who have to wait for over a month in writhing pain before they can receive proper treatment from a clinic for problems which you and I could have fixed in a matter of hours. The problem is that we're not friends with them. We're not willing to sacrifice on their behalf.
Yesterday, thanks to "ObamaCare," my mother was able to add me onto their family insurance plan until I'm 26 years old. Every family plan with a member under 26 can do this now. It's the first real implementation I've seen of this new health care plan. For my wife and I, yesterday was a day of celebration over this. We can now cancel the insurance we had--insurance which we were already going to have to cancel because we couldn't afford it--and still be insured effective in January. But not everyone is celebrating. There are folks who are convinced that their insurance is going to become unaffordable due to this or that Obama is trying to take over the world and there are other folks who still have no reason to get excited either way. They still aren't going to be insured, they have never been insured, and they have no hope that they ever will be insured. That's the polarization of this country, of the world, and neither side really knows the other.
When all we know of poverty is what we read about in magazines and see on television, then it's easy to think they're only poor cause they're lazy and its easy to think that health care is not an issue. But if we took the time to get to know them, if we went there, if we became their friends, then we'd surely be willing to help them and we'd surely even be willing to sacrifice our excess comfort for them.
The problem is that some have too much and some have too little. Well, when that's the problem, it can't be fixed without some people making sacrifices. Just cause I have health insurance doesn't mean that everything is fixed. Sure, I wouldn't have insurance without the changes that have been made but the reality is still that some kids have never even seen a real doctor. That's the reality and that's the problem that has to be fixed and it won't be fixed unless we're willing to pay a little more, wait a little longer, and even things out.
Please don't think this is about some ballot measure or Bill. This isn't about "reform" to me. It's not about democrats and republicans. It's not even about America. To me, this is all about Jesus. As long as the "least of these are uninsured," as long as kids have to sell drugs just to make ends meat, as long as someone has to wait a month for a simple surgery or can't get surgery at all while some rich teenager complains about going to the Dentist, as long as there is poverty... Jesus is among them.
So it's great that I've got insurance... I grew up with it. I'm used to it. But I won't be satisfied until Jesus Christ is satisfied.
There are kids in this country who've never seen a doctor. There are folks who have to wait for over a month in writhing pain before they can receive proper treatment from a clinic for problems which you and I could have fixed in a matter of hours. The problem is that we're not friends with them. We're not willing to sacrifice on their behalf.
Yesterday, thanks to "ObamaCare," my mother was able to add me onto their family insurance plan until I'm 26 years old. Every family plan with a member under 26 can do this now. It's the first real implementation I've seen of this new health care plan. For my wife and I, yesterday was a day of celebration over this. We can now cancel the insurance we had--insurance which we were already going to have to cancel because we couldn't afford it--and still be insured effective in January. But not everyone is celebrating. There are folks who are convinced that their insurance is going to become unaffordable due to this or that Obama is trying to take over the world and there are other folks who still have no reason to get excited either way. They still aren't going to be insured, they have never been insured, and they have no hope that they ever will be insured. That's the polarization of this country, of the world, and neither side really knows the other.
When all we know of poverty is what we read about in magazines and see on television, then it's easy to think they're only poor cause they're lazy and its easy to think that health care is not an issue. But if we took the time to get to know them, if we went there, if we became their friends, then we'd surely be willing to help them and we'd surely even be willing to sacrifice our excess comfort for them.
The problem is that some have too much and some have too little. Well, when that's the problem, it can't be fixed without some people making sacrifices. Just cause I have health insurance doesn't mean that everything is fixed. Sure, I wouldn't have insurance without the changes that have been made but the reality is still that some kids have never even seen a real doctor. That's the reality and that's the problem that has to be fixed and it won't be fixed unless we're willing to pay a little more, wait a little longer, and even things out.
Please don't think this is about some ballot measure or Bill. This isn't about "reform" to me. It's not about democrats and republicans. It's not even about America. To me, this is all about Jesus. As long as the "least of these are uninsured," as long as kids have to sell drugs just to make ends meat, as long as someone has to wait a month for a simple surgery or can't get surgery at all while some rich teenager complains about going to the Dentist, as long as there is poverty... Jesus is among them.
So it's great that I've got insurance... I grew up with it. I'm used to it. But I won't be satisfied until Jesus Christ is satisfied.
Comments