A friend's comment made me stop and think this week; usually, that's a good thing to do.
"I don't believe that anyone has the right to healthcare," my friend asserted. I must admit that that took me aback. I literally began to shake my head. In my brain, I thought, "Surely there's something significant about that statement, but I just can't quite figure out what it is."
I do know that it bothered me, mostly because it raised an unexamined assumption in my own thinking. And, as a wise mentor of mine once told me, "You know what it makes out of you and me when we assume too much!" [Just cross off the u and the me in that word assume if you didn't get it...:)]
So I started pondering...what is a "right" anyway? And to what extent am I -- or we, in a just society -- bound by any moral/ethical responsibility in this whole healthcare discussion? (I am seriously not interested in the "politics" of the debate at this point...we have all heard the talking points on both sides ad infinitum, ad nauseum!)
After wrestling with it for a semi-sleepless night, I believe that my friend's statement is TRUE. It does not follow from either the legal or moral basis of our society that any individual deserves (or is guaranteed) to be treated for illness, injury, accident or natural pestilence.
I suppose if that were the end of the thought process and the debate, we could ask Congress to save us many, many billions of dollars and simply cancel ALL federal government support of healthcare, including Medicare and Medicaid.
After all, if it's not a right imparted by the Constitution, then, as the bona fide "we the people" US government, we really shouldn't be in the health care business (with the possible exception of the VA...since one could argue that veterans are, by their service to our nation, guaranteed the right to basic healthcare.)
And, quite honestly, for those who share in the Christian conviction that is part and parcel of the founding of our country, there is not really a biblical mandate to guarantee anything to anyone else -- except to love one another. (Romans 13:8 is the reference for those who might like to check it out.)
Even Jesus said, "Well, it all really boils down to just two main things -- love God with all your heart...and love your neighbor as yourself. That's it...that's all she wrote!" (Of course, I am translating freely here, but you get my drift! Read it in Matthew 22:37-40.)
So, like I said...as far as technically speaking...we're off the hook! Nowhere, anywhere, is there an authoritative document that says we have to give healthcare to people who more than likely can't afford it...or who, by the whim of fate, are afflicted with an "uninsurable" condition.
But that doesn't really seem to settle it for me.
I cannot get those nagging phrases out of my head, one from the Constitution (well, the preamble to the Constitution, so technically speaking I don't know if it counts) and the other from the scripture quoted above:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union,... promote the general Welfare,...do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. (read it here.)
Love your neighbor as yourself.
General welfare...neighbor as yourself...what do those phrases have in common? Hmmm...there may be some value in thinking about what I can and should do for my neighbor, even if I am not required. There may be some things that I could/should agree to do -- actions that are "right," even if it's not a "right."
Of course, as my friend Dr. M. has repeatedly reminded me, there are really no limits on me, or on any church or charitable organization that I belong to, concerning how much I can and should help other people. That does not mean that it can/should be the domain of government.
General welfare...just such an intriguing phrase, though, that must have been stuck in the minds of the framers of the Constitution. What did they mean by that? How could I construct a meaningful framework for sorting through this hotly-debated issue?
How does any of us...and, most importantly, how do all of us as part of this Union (and not to mention as neighbors,) cooperate for the general welfare, a concept defined as "a contented state of being happy and healthy and prosperous." I guess it's the healthy part that has me thinking.
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This post has gotten overlong already...so I'm going to have to post one more significant piece of the discussion I've been having with myself in the next installment. Thanks for reading...all comments (and I mean ALL) are welcomed and appreciated!
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