If you’ve been around here very long, you probably know I have a kid with Down syndrome. Shepherding my daughter to almost-adulthood has provided me bountiful interaction with the U.S. health care system.
We’ve had doctors who were blow-your-mind fabulous and doctors whose mind clearly was nowhere in the room. A slew of nurses who were a.maz.ing. Child life specialists who kept me sane. A lot of receptionists who are no help on any level, and a few who really make an effort.
People like to gloat that the U.S. has “the best health care in the world.” I have a real problem with this statement—not because I hate doctors and nurses (most are rock stars), but because access is uneven and unpredictable and there is total lack of clarity and justice around what care actually costs.
Just so you know I have enough experience to have an opinion on this matter, here’s the 10,000-foot view of my daughter’s interaction with the health care system (and, more to the point, insurance):
- 3 ICU stays (all with ventilators)
- 3-5 hospital overnights for colds, because of ICU stays #1 and 3
- open-heart surgery (ICU stay #2)
- 3 eye surgeries
- 2 knee dislocations
- 5+ iterations of various orthotics
- 3 years of 2x/week PT (to learn to walk)
- 3 years of 2x/week OT (to learn to eat, dress, and other things we take for granted)
- 3 years of speech therapy
- pulmonology (sleep apnea)
- GI (celiac disease)
One particular set of orthotics my daughter wore in elementary school illustrates the lack of clarity and justice around cost.
These orthotics were custom made and invasive and awful—and priced at $5000.
But wait! The ACTUAL cost of the orthotics, as negotiated between the insurance company and the provider, was TWO thousand. Luckily for us, the plan paid most of that. But I was left thinking: if it ACTUALLY costs $2000, why are they charging FIVE?
And if you don’t have insurance, then what? Those who have the most need are those who are going to pay the MOST? Really?
Health care should NOT be tied to profit. And cost should be the same for everyone.
For all these reasons, when I saw the topic of last week’s Born of Wonder podcast, I was intrigued. Katie, a Catholic convert, talked to the author of a book called The Nordic Theory of Everything. The author is Finnish, but lived in the U.S. for a number of years. So she has experience with both systems.
The conversation covered universal child care and universal free education. In Finland, she said, higher funding goes to under-performing schools—unlike here, where richer districts have more money, and the kids who most need the help get the least.
The central argument this author wanted to make was that the complexity and opacity of the U.S. system is, in fact, a barrier to freedom. You have to spend so much time and energy trying to navigate the muck, it takes away from your ability to live. How many people feel trapped in miserable jobs because they can’t afford to change health insurance? It’s easier to live a free life, she argues, if the basics of life are guaranteed to be taken care of, and follow you independent of your job.
Now, I grew up in the conservative movement.
Which means I’m very familiar with the objections to universal health care. Namely, death committees, long waits, and high abortion rates for people with disabilities.
As for long waits, anyone who poo-poos socialized medical systems for that reason has clearly never called a doctor’s office in the States when their newly-18-year-old, just kicked out of the pediatric practice, has a pressing medical problem and is told that the next available appointment is three months away.
As for the rest, well, I had hoped the podcast discussion would address the big elephants in the room, but the author is not a Christian, so it would be kind of pointless to try to force a conversation about medical ethics. The big question they focused on was the need for a high tax rate.
Personally, I want to see us let go of the knee-jerk objection to taxation. I will say it again: low taxes is NOT a Gospel value. It’s a worldly one, and Christians have got to get over trying to act as if the two are connected, because they’re not.
As I view the world through my Gospel lens, it seems obvious that a universal system, funded publicly, is much more in line with Jesus' teachings, because everybody’s access and cost is equal.
For Christians, the real question is how we decide whose values to honor in choosing what gets covered.
It’s a valid question—but NOT a justification for refusing even to talk about the idea. Which is where we are now.
The thing is, our tax dollars are already supporting things that are contrary to our faith. Like, for instance, the death penalty. It’s a terribly expensive and inefficient system, with unending and expensive appeals and, in the end, a practice that is totally contrary to the Gospel. Yet we hold our nose and accept it.
Why do we accept our money going there, and we won’t even talk about finding better solutions around health care?
I’m not pretending to have answers. I’m just pointing out, as usual, that what too many want to portray as black and white is in fact a muddy mess. And when we try to boil it down to the binary, we end up betraying the values we hold most dear, without even realizing it. Don’t forget that Pope Francis challenged the world to look for ways to provide health care, which he called called a fundamental right.
I just want us to quit employing obstructionism and tackle the hard things our faith calls us to wrestle with.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience so earnestly and humbly. I'm with you!
I am near 40, been working since college (traditional student) and have never had employer- provided insurance. Because of pre-existing conditions and the way the healthcare system is set up in the United States, I couldn't rely on faith-based health shares, either (tried a couple), so I've been reliant on government programs that make private insurance possible.
I remember when I burst into tears at work one day because my husband and I had preciously spent hours on the phone with my insurance company until they finally denied me coverage. There's nothing quiet like that feeling.
Here in this country, I believe our Achilles Heel is rugged individualism.
Looking forward to reading more; I'm subbing!
Really appreciate your thoughtful and engaged listening here. It is so very, very complicated. Not a black and white issue at all but I am 100% with you that I consider healthcare a human right. If we start from that basis, what will that lead us toward? No healthcare system or system of government is perfect but it's become quite evident to me that our profit-based capitalism-end-all-be-all system is hurting the most vulnerable among us.