Sermons

The Very Rev. Tracey Lind
September 6, 2009
Proper 18b 2009
Isaiah 35:4-7a; James 2:1-10, [11-13], 14-17; Mark 7:24-37

Let's open up the debate about health care

A friend told me a story about a man who had a heart attack and woke up in a Catholic hospital. A nun came to see him and asked if he had health insurance. He replied that he didn't. She asked if he had assets with which to pay the bill. He again answered that he didn't. She then asked if he had any relatives who could help with the bill. He responded that he had one sister, but she was a spinster. "She's a nun, like you." The nun became indignant, and said, "Sir, we are not spinsters; we are brides of Christ." The man replied, "Well in that case, why don't you send the bill to my brother-in-law."

Obviously, the story I just told isn't true. It's a silly joke to make a point.

However, I can recount many stories of people who land in the hospital without health insurance, who don't have assets with which to pay their medical bills, and who don't have relatives to whom they can turn.

I can also tell you stories about people who pay way too much for health insurance, who deplete their assets to pay medical bills, and who have turned to relatives in need.

I can also tell you about my primary care physician who quit the practice of medicine because it was no longer financially or professionally rewarding.

I can tell you about senior citizens I know who don't take medications because they cost too much.

I can tell you stories about doctors and nurses who scrounge around for samples to give patients who don't have money or insurance to pay for prescriptions.

I can tell you about friends and parishioners who simply don't have health insurance and don't get proper medical care.

I can tell you these stories, and you can tell them to me. We all know what a mess our health care system is in. But here are some facts according to The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured:

• There are approximately 46 million Americans who are without adequate healthcare and health insurance.
• More than eight in ten of the uninsured are in working families--about 70% are from families with one or more full-time workers and 12% are from families with part-time workers.
• About two-thirds of the uninsured are poor or near poor.
• Adults are more likely to be uninsured than children.
• Young adults, ages 19 to 29, comprise a disproportionately large share of the uninsured, mostly because of their low incomes. I can still remember at the age of 24, in-between jobs and landing in the emergency room without health insurance; I paid off that bill for nearly ten years (as long as my student loan).
• More than half (63%) of nonelderly uninsured adults have no education beyond high school, making them less able to get higher-skilled jobs that are more likely to provide health coverage.
• Minorities are much more likely to be uninsured than whites.
• About three-quarters of the uninsured (73%) have gone without coverage for more than one year.
• The uninsured are less likely to receive timely preventive care.
• Anticipating high medical bills, many of the uninsured are not able to follow recommended treatments.

Numerous studies have shown that having insurance improves health overall and could reduce mortality rates for the uninsured by at least 25%. But health insurance in our nation is expensive. Did you know it costs Trinity approximately $200,000 to provide health and dental insurance for 14 employees and their families? And curiously, those who receive family coverage are the lowest wage earners among the staff. I think $200,000 is a lot of money for health insurance (that nearly 10% of our total operating budget); and yet, employees still have to cover increasing co-pays and deductibles. We all know that something's got to change!

Our nation's president and congress has been trying to negotiate a health care reform proposal for months now. According to Robert Reich, in his New York Times review of The Heart of Power: Health and Politics in the Oval Office by David Blumethal and James Monroe, "universal health care has bedeviled, eluded or defeated every president for the last 75 years." (NYTimes, Book Review, September 6, 2009) And, as evidenced by public demonstrations, talk show conversations, editorials, and so on, the conversation is over-heating and the reform is once again stalled. So tomorrow, President Obama will re-ignite his health care reform proposal at the nation's largest Labor Day Picnic in Cincinnati.

Most of us can agree that our nation needs health care reform, and we need it now. It is a matter of justice and dignity and good health for all people. Thus, the community of faith is weighing on the debate. At the most recent General Convention of the Episcopal Church, deputies and bishops voted to "Urge passage of federal legislation establishing a 'single payer' universal health-care program; call for a federal law by the end of 2009 guaranteeing adequate health care and insurance for every citizen (D048, D088)." (Episcopal Life)

Why this approach? Because according to the text of the resolution: "Under a single-payer system, all Americans would be covered for all medically necessary services, including: doctor, hospital, long-term care, mental health, dental, vision, prescription drug and medical supply costs. Patients would regain free choice of doctor and hospital, and doctors would regain autonomy over patient care."

"Physicians would be paid fee-for-service according to a negotiated formulary or receive salary from a hospital or nonprofit HMO / group practice. Hospitals would receive a global budget for operating expenses. Health facilities and expensive equipment purchases would be managed by regional health planning boards."

The legislative body of the Episcopal Church has stated that: "A single-payer system would be financed by eliminating private insurers and recapturing [a large portion of the administrative dollars spent on health care - over $350 billion or 30 percent of all health care expenditures]. Modest new taxes would replace premiums and out-of-pocket payments currently paid by individuals and business. Costs would be controlled through negotiated fees, global budgeting and bulk purchasing."

The actions of our General Convention now call us action: "To commit ourselves to restoring the wholeness and well-being of God's creation....As people of faith, we have an opportunity to be both a healing presence and a voice of justice for those in need." As stewards of God's creation, we are required "not only care for the Earth's environment but also care for one another, respecting the dignity of human beings and providing a healing balm for those in need of basic health care." (Episcopal Public Policy Network)

In this morning's scripture, James calls us Christians to account:

"What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead."

Is this not a challenge to advocate for universal health care?

And this morning's Gospel reading is even more pointed. Mark recalls the story of Jesus' encounter with the Syrophoenician woman who interrupted our Lord at rest and "begged him cast the demon out of her daughter." (Mark 7:24-37). At first, he refused her plea with insulting words: "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." But this desperate woman would not be dissuaded by insults; nor would she accept "No" for an answer. Like many desperate parents seeking health care for a child, she pushed back with powerful and persuasive words: "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." And Jesus' mind was changed. This strong-willed and desperate mother's forcefulness opened him up to the new possibilities of universalism.

Shortly thereafter, Jesus encountered the deaf man who had a speech impediment. Our Lord took him aside privately, put his fingers into his ears, spat, and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said in Arabic, "Ephphatha," which means, "Be opened." And immediately, the man's tongue was released, his ears opened, and he could hear and speak plainly.

Now I ask you: What's the connection between these two healing accounts? And what do they have to teach us about this health care crisis in our nation? A desperate mother in search of healing and health care for her child opened up Jesus. He then opened up a man in need of healing and health care. Through her pushy persistence, a woman told Jesus to open up and change his mind--to be liberated from attitudes and prejudices that were holding him hostage. Jesus obeyed the Spirit of God he heard through this desperate woman's persistence. He opened up; the woman's request was granted; her daughter was healed; and Jesus was liberated and empowered all the more as evidenced by his ability to heal a deaf man.

Rabbi Alexander Schindler, Past President, Union of American Hebrew Congregations, once said that, "To be without health insurance in this country means to be without access to medical care. But health is not a luxury, nor should it be the sole possession of a privileged few. We are all created...in the image of God, and this makes each human life as precious as the next. By 'pricing out' a portion of this country's population from health care coverage, we mock the image of God and destroy the vessels of God's work." (www.faithfulreform.org) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said even more directly: "Of all forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."

Friends, at the risk of irritating and perhaps angering some of you by proclaiming politics from the pulpit, I believe that our nation - its leaders and its people - needs to be opened to the cries of the poor, the desperate and the uninsured. And not only that, I believe that we - people of faith - who have been opened to their voices, need to raise our voices in a loud and persistent call for universal health care for all God's people in this land! As one of my favorite hymns by Marty Haugen asks: "Who will speak if we don't? Who will speak so their voice will be heard? Oh, who will speak if we don't?" (Marty Haugen (c) 1993, G.I.A. Publications, Chicago)

So in the name of God, speak out! Pick up a pen, a phone, or a computer and contact your congressional representatives now! Don't let others define, manipulate or dominate the conversation. Let your voice be heard, and tell those whom you have elected to find a way to ensure that all people - rich, poor and in-between; young, old and middle-aged; white, black, Hispanic, Asian and other; employed and unemployed; worker and student - all people in this country have access to quality health care.

And in doing so, you will help to fulfill the words of the prophet Isaiah:

The eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
then the lame shall leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy... (35:5)

Let the people say Amen!