So much of the current “debate” about health care policy and insurance reform in our country seems to me to be little more than a grade school playground shouting match – a lot of noise, but not much substance. It also seems to be a conversation in the abstract…all about policy ideas and political ideologies, but not about the people who need health care…which is all of us.
Today I’d like to lift up one person and their story as a very limited way of connecting a name and a face to this important conversation…as a way of making the abstract nature of the debate thus far a bit more real.
Seth is the 28 year old son of some very dear friends. I’ve known him since he was three. Seth is a college graduate, living in New York City. His passion is music, and he is a very talented singer-songwriter. To support his love for music, Seth works about 50 hours a week for a large international corporation; paid by the hour, he has no benefits…including no health insurance.
Early last week Seth’s gums began to swell and bleed, then his jaw tightened up, and the joints in his hands became extremely sore, and his feet became very tender and also swelled. As you can imagine, his parents were deeply worried. They kept urging him to go see a doctor before his situation became even more serious. Seth repeatedly refused their pleas, saying he couldn’t afford a doctor’s visit with no insurance. As Seth’s condition deteriorated, however, he couldn’t go to work or play his music. Finally his parents prevailed, and Seth visited a “free” clinic where it cost him $150 to see a doctor and an additional $65 for lab work. He was diagnosed with a strange virus and given a perscription, which he was luckily able to fill for only $10. But after nearly a week away from work, and the extra medical expenses, Seth is now not sure how he is going to pay the rent. Though we didn’t talk about it, I imagine buying food this month will be a challenge as well.
I don’t want to pretend that the problems with the health care system in this country are simple, or are easily fixed, or that potential solutions don’t come with a big price tag that will affect us all. But I do know that the millions and millions of our fellow citizens who are under-insured, or who have no health insurance at all, are our friends and neighbors and fellow children of God; real people with real and painful stories. As I sit in my office and write this post, Fitch Parlor is filled with fellow Lafayette residents seeking a small amount of financial help with their rent or a utility bill. I imagine that many of these folks do not have health insurance either. Like Seth, they are not an abstract statistic. They are someone’s parent…someone’s child…someone’s spouse…someone’s loved one!
Jesus spent a lot of his time caring for the tangible needs of those he encountered; and he expects us, as his disciples, to do the same. Now, certainly to care for the tens of millions without health insurance in our country is more than we can do as individuals or as a congregation or even as a denomination. But there are still important things we can do in this larger conversation. We can expect and tell our elected leaders to find real solutions to real problems, instead of yelling at each other like children in the schoolyard. We can expect that the possibility of health care for everyone will mean some kind of change for all of us…and that we can choose to embrace and deal with change as it comes, instead of being afraid today of the unknown. God invites us to live in hope, not fear. We can pray for Seth, and for the millions and millions like Seth – that God will watch over them and help us be good and faithful neighbors to them.
John Buchanan, the pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, and a former pastor of Bethany Presbyterian here in Lafayette, is also the Editor of the journal, The Christian Century. In a recent editorial on the health care debate, he said something that really caught me. Buchanan said that all the fear-raising talk about rationing health care was really a false argument, because we already ration health care in America…we ration it according to income level!
As of this past Monday, Seth was doing better and planning to go back to work on Tuesday! I continue to pray for Seth…but I also know that I need to get busy and do a lot more for all the Seth’s out there.
See you in Worship this Sunday…
