Opposing Health Care Views

As the Presidential election draws closer, the issues that are crucial to voters grow larger. This time around, one of the many contrasting views deals with some near and dear to every American – health care!

As voters ponder their options, several things become abundantly clear. Health care costs are skyrocketing and now stand at a staggering 2.2 trillion dollars per year. That amounts to nearly 16 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product. Last year 3 of 10 American families reported have difficulty covering their families’ medical needs due to personal financial struggles, the cost of insurance premiums, high deductibles and the all-too-familiar co-payments. Add to that the fact that some 40 million still claim to have no medical insurance at all, a condition that can lead to serious financial problems, long-term debt, and sometimes bankruptcy.

To try and deal with the growing and difficult trend, the Democratic plan requires employers to provide health insurance benefits for all employees. The alternative would be to pay taxes. The plan also includes a national system that contains strict regulations to insurers and guarantees access to all. On paper this all sounds acceptable, with the exception of one haunting question. Just who is going to pay for this? The answer should be fairly clear.

On the Republican side, the focus is more of a classic conservative philosophy in a deregulated market that focuses on market-driven solutions like tax credits. It emphasizes individual responsibility in order to promote competition to bring down the soaring health costs.

Few doubt that America has a problem, but the ‘health care’ system itself may be just a part of the problem. Former Governor Mike Huckabee, while campaigning for the Republican nomination, stated repeatedly that the current dilemma is a ‘heath crisis’ and not just a ‘health care crisis’. His point was simple and valid. If people would choose to live more moral and healthy lifestyles, the result would be better health for the nation overall and a lessening of the strain on the system. That same position is clearly echoed in Proverbs 3:7-8. “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones. “

The other thing that comes to mind when pondering the realm of physical health involves a dangerous and deadly contrast. Admittedly, the good functioning of the human body is important, as would be attested by any who have lost their precious health will. But it is not ‘all-important’.

It appears today that fewer and fewer give much thought about their own spiritual health or of the eternal soul housed within their temporary physical frame. This remains true despite the Bible’s ample warnings about placing physical properties above spiritual priorities. The Lord Himself spelled it out as clearly as He possibly could in one single question in Mark 8:36. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”

And Paul adds his insight in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18. There he speaks to the reality of the eventual demise of the physical body as opposed to the things spiritual and eternal. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” The Apostle also addressed the subject in the 4th chapter of his first letter to a young Timothy. He does not suggest that caring for the physical is not helpful. But he does explain how proper preparation and nutrition for the soul is essential. “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.’" (1 Timothy 4:7-8)

Finally Paul relates the importance of maintaining a proper overall perspective and balance between the physical and the spiritual along with the stating primary reason why to do so. “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.” (1 Corinthians 6:20)

Bill Breckenridge