Christian morality and government's purpose: the national health care debate

July 23, 12:58 PMSeattle Evangelical ExaminerJoshua Neikirk

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President Obama last night had a prime-time press conference laying out his plans for his national healthcare plans. Currently there are three different bills in Congress proposing a nationalized health care for America, of which the House version (H. R. 3200) has gotten the most coverage the last few days. The President has based his arguments for a public option as a moral option. A nation, as a moral community, must look out for those who are sick and needy. No doubt he has been influenced by the attitude of Christ. But because this decision is a moral choice, one should ask if Obama's plans meet up with an Evangelical worldview.

What are the respective roles
of government and church
in health care reform?

President Obama has certain goals he wants to meet with national healthcare. He wants to lower costs to make it more affordable for people. He wants to make sure that people are not denied coverage for procedures that they reasonably believed they were insured for. He also wants to stop the hidden costs which are passed on by hospitals for treating people who are not insured. Each of these goals are indeed morally right, and fall into a Christian framework of the role of government. As leader of the American government, President Obama is trying to add protection for people so that they are not taken advantage of by others. This is the purpose of government found in Scripture (Romans 13:1-5; 1 Peter 2:13f) as Evangelicals have interpreted it.

Any Christian can see that these are also righteous goals to be met. The cooperation between church and state in these affairs will work well for the overall well-being of America. There should never be an tiered system where only the rich can afford healthcare. Christians can also condemn the misleading practices by those few health insurers which do deny treatment for individuals. And everyone can agree with Jesus that we should care for our neighbor as ourself. The Christian desire is of course to recognize these motivations as stemming from Christ, and call people to these higher standards based upon God's desire for relationship with humanity.

Parable of the Good Samaritan,
Rembrant.

Does the President's plans fulfill what he wants to though? The largest argument being presented by his critics is that a nationalized health care program of this magnitude will lead to rationed health care, which ultimately leads to a lower quality of care provided. Surely the President nor his supporters can cite one piece of evidence that it will not actually do this, while examples of rationed health care in Canada, Great Britain, and even Japan stand frightfully at the forefront of opposing arguments. Are we willing to give up our standards of humanity, reducing people to numbers, so that every single one of 305,000,000 Americans are covered? Christ would say that although it is important to care for everyone, you should not reduce your standard of care for anyone. The Samaritan, finding two men set upon by robbers, would treat each according to their wounds and needs.

The ultimate question which must be answered is if either health care bill in Congress sets out to fulfill the President's own goals. Does the President's own plan fulfill his goals? In the opinion of this writer, none do. We can all rejoice that the President wants to reform health care to provide protection for people. But if reform of the current system is his goal, then why is he insisting upon these other things, such as a public option? This writer specifically would like to see the government compromise and regulate the health care industry instead of trying to offer other options.

As Christians we can do no more than what we are called upon doing. We must pray for our leaders that they make Godly decisions. We must be individually dedicated to taking care of our neighbors, even if we our burdened. But we cannot allow ourselves to lose our humanity in the process. We must be willing to rejoice and critique any plan that comes out of Washington at this time.