Health Care: The Christian Response

Jesus told a story about a Samaritan in order to reveal the nature of true holiness.  The story was told to those who thought they were pretty good representatives of what it meant to be holy, or righteous.  I was thinking about the Health Care issue we have in this country, and the story came to mind in a new way.

In the story a priest and a Levite walk by a sorely wounded stranger, and do nothing to help.  Perhaps they think:  what will happen to me if I help him?  They know if they touch this man they will be made unclean, and therefore unable to perform the holiness rituals of their religion.  Maybe they have some natural human fears, and consider that the man might be faking, and its a trap.  Maybe they are concerned that once they stop to help, they will be burdened with the man’s care for an undetermined amount of time, or money.  Maybe they think the man deserved what he got for being careless along the way,or doing something else to bring about his troubles.  Maybe they look at him, and think I’d better be careful, or I’ll end up like that guy over there.  Maybe they just don’t want to get involved.  Maybe, and this seems all too probable, and the saddest of all, maybe they have their eyes so much in the clouds, or are thinking so much about their own concerns, they cannot even see the need of the other that is right before them.

The Samaritans worshipped God in the “wrong” way, and had picked up a lot of “heathen” ways.  The Samaritan, however, sees the wounded man and thinks:  what will happen to him, if I don’t help?  The first concern is for the other.  He doesn’t pause to consider if the other person is worthy of his help.  He is willing to put aside his own concerns — to lay down his life — for another, and that is the way that Christ loves us; and that is the way that we are asked to love others.   The Christian way is to love others in the same way that Christ loves us. 

The Samaritan is looked down on as a sort of half-breed, and therefore unclean.  He is not seen as holy by both the Levite and the priest.  And yet, he is the one who proves himself to be holy, and proves that he is living the way God would have us all live.  The Levite and the priest would say that the Samaritan didn’t know God, but he is the one who is compassionate and caring.  Compassionate caring and mercy are of far more importance to God than are innumerable rituals, devotionals, tithes, or acts of piety.  What matters is that first inner question we ask when we are faced with the needs of another.  Is the question we ask ourselves: What will happen to me if I help?  Or is it:  What will happen to the other if I don’t help?

In regard to health care, and why we can’t have a universal health care plan, there are those who are like the Levite and the priest.  They ask, what will happen to me, and my health care, if we had something like a one-payer system for health care?  Gosh, maybe I would have to wait a little longer for a procedure, or maybe I couldn’t see the doctor I wanted.  Or, if they are members of the investor class, they might think, maybe I will lose money if I’m are not allowed to make a profit on health care.  Or if they are doctors, they might think, maybe I won’t earn as much money under this system as I can earn with the system as it now exists — even if the present system is driving me crazy.  In one way or another, those who are invested in the Health Care System as it exists today are asking:  what will happen to me, and to my money?

Those who are lobbying for a one-payer health care system  are asking:  what will happen to those who can’t afford health care, if we don’t change the way we do things?  They know that it is better to get that needed medical procedure, even if you have to wait for it, than to not be able to get the procedure at all.  They know it is better to go to the doctor who is on your list, than not to be able to go to a doctor at all.  Right now what is happening to those who don’t have health care is illness, shortened life-spans, and death.  If we don’t come together and create a plan that works for all of us, we are not doing things in the Christian way.  We are walking by the man lying wounded on the side of the road, in the same way as the Levite and the priest. 

Either you are willing to lay down your life for the other — even if it means you are giving up some money, or time — or you are not.  What question do you ask when you think about Health Care?  Are you asking:  What will happen to me and my tax money if we help?  Or are you asking:  What will happen to others if we don’t help? 

As Christians we also need to remember that our decisions are not all that Godly if they are decisions based on the “bottom line”  — the cost.  Our decisions need to be based on what is best for people, not bank accounts.