Compassionate Healthcare

Probably the biggest source of stress in my life is the raging ongoing healthcare debate in this country. Perhaps you find that odd, since cancer represents a much more tangible threat to my life. After all, I’m writing this from a hospital room, having had surgery last week Thursday, another surgery Friday, and two smaller procedures in the time between those operations. I need at least one more surgery yet, which I’ll get in a couple weeks, and the end of treatment is nowhere in sight yet. But that doesn’t bother me as much as the specter of an impending healthcare disaster.

Right now I know I can get whatever treatment my doctors prescribe, be it more chemo, more radiation, more surgery, or, as it seems right now, all of the above. But major upheaval and disruption—not to mention outright destruction of consumer protections—could make the life-saving care I and millions like me need unattainable. For me healthcare is so intensely personal that I cannot comprehend how so many people have reduced this issue to numbers and monetary values.

The national conversation about healthcare tends to start from a perspective of costs. How fair current systems are, who should pay how much, and a general spirit of complaint that healthcare is too expensive are dominant themes. Simply put this is the wrong starting point. We need to begin by considering how we might craft a compassionate healthcare system that gives coverage to everyone, a system in which none of us, especially those who are most marginalized and in need, fall through the cracks. Figuring out the most fair and cost-effective way to pay for such a system should come second. Obviously any system we choose will have to be financially viable, and I don’t mean to dismiss financial concerns. Finances will ultimately make or break any system. But finances should not be the primary foundation and focus of our healthcare system. Covering people should be.

Too often though covering people comes secondary to saving money. Giving some people the choice to spend less at the expense of covering those who are not profitable for insurance companies is—somehow—an acceptable tradeoff, according to many. This is despicable in and of itself. But the fact that most of the people most intent on prioritizing saving money over saving lives claim to be Christians is irreconcilable.

Jesus himself said that “you cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:25), while the greatest commandments given to us are to love God and love others as ourselves (Mark 12:29-31). To value money more than the lives of others blatantly stands opposed to Jesus’ central message, example, and heart. Christianity should provide us with a deeper well of love for us to draw from when we deal with others. We can and should tap into the infinite source of God's love at all times, especially when our own capacity to love others runs dry. Sadly though much of what I’ve seen and experienced in the debates surrounding healthcare has been quite the opposite.

I’ve seen the most vocal Christians make some of the most hateful and hurtful statements while those of unknown, other, or no religious affiliation have been some of the most gracious and compassionate people, both in the national conversation and in discussions I’ve personally been part of. I hope and pray that all who strive to follow Christ will see this profoundly troubling disconnect and get back in touch with God’s heart, a heart of love for all people.