Health, Healing and the Church's Mission by Swartley Willard M.;

Author:Swartley, Willard M.; [Swartley, Willard M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2012-08-01T00:00:00+00:00

Part Three

Toward New Paradigms

10

Health Care Reform

Evaluation and Prospects

There is near universal agreement among thoughtful leaders that [health care] reform is necessary. Our country is on an unsustainable path of spending larger portions of the nations’ productivity and wealth on health care [than other countries]. . . . As Christians, we are guided to love our neighbor as ourselves and to care for those unable to care for themselves. So, the question is not whether health care and health care financing should be available to all, but rather how can we best arrange the talents God provides to accomplish our objective.

Terrie E. Troxel, “Health Care Reform: Don’t Trust It to the Angels”

People who call the U.S. system “the best in the world” must not know that we spend 40% more per capita (for hospitals, doctors, medications, and supplies) than any other nation, but are not 40% healthier, as meas­ured by length of life, deaths of newborns, or any other standard yardstick. Yes, some people in every nation have bad experiences; there is no miraculously perfect system of assuring that everyone gets the care he or she needs, when it’s needed, with no errors and no interpersonal tension.

Kristine M. Gebbie, “Health Care Reform: Get Everyone In!”

INTRODUCTORY CONCEPTS

What do we mean by health care? We think of doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, hospitals and clinics, but its range is broader, for it includes pharmacists as well as companies researching new drugs, social workers, physical therapists, nursing and retirement centers, and hospice. Do we think also of chaplains and pastors as part of the healing ministries? We must not overlook the spiritual dimension of holistic health care. Health care also includes prevention: education and practices that promote healthy lifestyles that avoid habits and practices that cause illness. Genetic factors are important as well.

Health care also includes the manufacturing and sales of numerous medical devices, from eyeglasses to hearing aids, pacemaker/defibrillators and many more technological devices. Surgeries of all kinds, with greater or lesser degrees of success, abound in modern health care. Through numerous interventions directed usually to individuals, but sometimes to populations, as in vaccines, hospitals and related care centers, the prevailing goal of health care is to restore to health and maximize wellness.

Health education includes knowledge of how to maximize the benefits of today’s health care resources. Its goal is to help consumers of health care detect early signs of illness and seek appropriate treatment by utilizing the best current professional understandings and resources. Even with advanced medical knowledge and technology, a degree of educated guessing, however, is often necessary. Numerous tests utilizing technology, however, reduce guesswork and make more accurate diagnoses. But technology is not to be used simply because it’s available or to increase salaries for health care providers.

The financing of health care and its costs differs greatly from country to country. Most Western countries, with the exception of the United States, finance their health care systems through a single-payer method. The federal government is usually that single payer, and taxes are paid by all citizens to finance the health care system.

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