Healthcare Reform: Our Top Priority for 2009 Health Care Reform: A Matter of Responsibility, Faith, and Justice “Health is central to our well-being, vital to relationships, and helps us live out our vocations in family, work, and community. Caring for one’s own health is a matter of human necessity and good stewardship. Caring for the health of others expresses both love for our neighbors and responsibility for a just society. As a personal and social responsibility, health care is a shared endeavor.” (ELCA Social Statement on Health Care, "Caring for Health: Our Shared Endeavor) http://www.elca.org/What-We-Believe/Social-Issues/Social-Statements/Health-and-Healthcare.aspx As people of faith, we believe that access to quality, affordable health care should not depend upon where a person works, how much a family earns, or where a person lives. Instead, every person, created in the image and likeness of God, should have access to the things necessary to sustain life and reach his or her God-given potential, including affordable, quality health care. Therefore, we urge all our leaders, regardless of political party or philosophy, to join in the commitment and conversation to achieve meaningful health care reform this year. The Issues -- What is Healthcare Reform Legislation Trying to Fix?- Lack of Healthcare Coverage: Approximately 45 million Americans under 65 have no healthcare coverage, including close to 9 million children. http://www.kff.org/uninsured/upload/7451-04.pdf)
- Costs vs Coverage: A recent survey published in Health Affairs shows that among people in the seven industrialized nations who were surveyed,"the United States spends by far the highest share of national income on health care yet is the only country that leaves a high percentage of the population uninsured or poorly protected in the event of illness. An estimated one-third of U.S. adults are either uninsured during the year or underinsured." http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/26/6/w717
- No Coverage = No Care: It goes without saying that those who do not have healthcare coverage do not generally receive healthcare or, if they do, it is minimal at best. "Although patients in the United States reported rapid access to elective surgery, they were the most likely to have gone without care because of cost and to have high out-of-pocket costs. One-fifth of U.S. adults reported serious problems paying medical bills in the past year—more than double the rates in the next-highest countries. These high rates reflected cost sharing as well as high rates of uninsurance. Thirty percent of the insured and 34 percent of the uninsured spent more than $1,000 out of pocket in the past year. http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/26/6/w717
- Co-Pays and Deductibles: Even those who are fortunate to have insurance struggle to pay their co-pays and deductibles (out of pocket expenses). According to a 2001 Harvard University Study, illness and medical bills accounted for one-half of the 1.4 million bankruptcies filed in the United States. A majority of those who filed "medical" bankruptices had health insurance coverage and were "middle class." http://aflac.wordpress.com/2008/03/19/medical-bills-leading-cause-of-bankruptcy-harvard-study-finds/
- High Risk = No Insurance: It is well documented that if you are considered a "high risk" individual, it is not likely you will be able to obtain health insurance coverage. Most states, including Nebraska, offer a "Comprehensive Health Insurance Pool" through which high risk individuals can purchase coverage. The average premium for such insurance is approximately $1,000 per month. http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparetable.jsp?ind=609&cat=7
Proposed Fixes -- What the President and Congress are Proposing (note this is subject to change on a daily basis) Click on the link below for a side by side comparison of the three major health care plans. SidebySide Comparison of Major Health Care Reform Proposals Kaiser Family Foundation.pdf What You Can Do- Read and consider the ELCA Social Statement on health and health care, “Caring for Health: Our Shared Endeavor.” It echoes the national and political consensus that health care in America “suffers from a prolonged crisis” and that our ideal of a “just and effective health care system” is “far from a reality today.”
- To open up discussion in your congregation or among your friends and learn more about a Lutheran perspective on health care, download our easy-to-use Congregational Toolkits. It is important that we measure any proposal for health care reform against the standards set by our biblical and historical tradition and our social statement. (To also see the health care reform principles of our partner, Lutheran Services in America, click here.)
- Contact Seantors Nelson and Johanns with your support for reform and your concern that it be a shared endeavor among individuals, churches, the government, and wider society; protect the most vulnerable; provide quality health coverage choices that are truly affordable to everyone; and rest on a financially sustainable foundation.
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