In July, as the health care debate was boiling throughout the country, I attended a Tea Party out of curiosity. The crowd was mostly older folks sitting in their lawn chairs talking about America's history and their concerns with current and future policies. It was fairly boring, nothing close to the political rallies that made the sixties and seventies interesting, but it was refreshing to see Americans riled up about politics.
At the end of the planned speeches the microphone was opened to the crowd. I left during the open mic time but as I was driving away we heard a liberal, college-aged person address the crowd with, “Let me educate you people on the truth about health care.” At that my husband turned the car around and returned to the rally to hear what the student had to say. The kid then began to disrespectfully accuse the crowd that they didn't care about other Americans because they were against universal health care (a Vietnam vet in the wheelchair shouted he was ready to fight the kid for such a remark). The college student continued by saying that “good Christians would want everyone to have health care.”
That isn't exactly Biblical, but it did encourage me to look for what Christians thought would be the optimum health care solution. I found two organizations that have been around since the early nineties: Medi-share and Samaritan Ministries. Both of these organizations claim that their program is the Biblical solution for health care. And it is worth noting that these programs are different in some specifics but very similar in their essentials.
Instead of insurance companies and agencies, these organizations are made up of Christians who agree to share each other's medical expenses. The members are assigned an amount to pay each month when they join based upon the size of their families. Each month members submit their medical expenses, the other members are assigned to another's need, and they send the money directly to that member to be used to pay their medical bills. This allows the member to know that 100 percent of their money is going to help pay someone else's medical expense. The programs do not cover what they consider unethical medical expenses, which allows them to be more generous with the needs they do support, like maternity.
There are rules built in for safety so that the generosity of the program won't be exploited. For example, medical expenses are verified by the company office and members' local minister is used for accountability. The overall point, however, which is to help one another with medical bills, holds true through both programs. In fact, members are encouraged to pray for one another and many members send encouraging cards with their payment.
Many Christians do not agree with some of the medical procedures (such as abortion) that insurance companies use their premiums to pay for, yet they still want to be responsible and ready to pay for their family's medical needs should they arise. These programs do an excellent job of providing Christians an alternative to insurance companies while encouraging giving to others rather than the feeling of being taken advantage of by insurance companies.
These successful programs demonstrate that there are unconventional options for health care that should be considered as we look to “reform” our health care nationwide. We need to consider all “out-of-the-box” possibilities in order to successfully reform our nation's health care system. We are Americans, audacious trail-blazers, so let's come up with the best solution possible instead of trying to emulate the failed European model.
Many consider dissent to be a form of patriotism. Whether it is that young man who spoke at the rally I attended, the White House or anyone in between who says that standing against the current health care legislation is un-American, I consider them to be wrong. Legislation that mandates Americans to have certain health care, or any health care, is un-American – and possibly unconstitutional.
