Much of Jesus' ministry involved healing and wholeness. John Wesley and the early Methodists took Jesus' healing ministry seriously when they opened the first free health clinic for the poor of London.
Today growing numbers of Americans are living without health insurance or are living in fear of losing the insurance they have.
We urge you to contact your member of the House of Representatives to cosponsor HR 676, the "United States National Health Insurance Act." Read details of this act and its current status here: http://thomas.loc.gov
Numerous articles describe the looming crisis in the United States healthcare system, a "perfect storm" in which crises of cost, quality, and access all converge. The number of people without any health insurance continues to increase, the quality of health care experienced by many Americans continues to deteriorate, and the cost of health care rises in double digits annually. These trends are unsustainable, and some form of system-wide collapse in the health care delivery system looms on the horizon.
The United Methodist Church (through the 2004 General Conference) has passed numerous resolutions calling for a major restructuring of the American health care system. HR 676 expresses very similar concerns. The United States is now the only industrialized country that fails to provide health care for all. The bill will establish a uniquely American health care system, not merely a copy of another system.
The United Methodist Social Principles (Para. 162T) terms health care a basic human right, and United Methodist Resolutions 108, 109, 110, 113 and 282 call for a health care system to which all have access.
HR 676 will convert our health care to a nonprofit model. There will be a grace period during which for-profit health care providers, such as hospitals, can convert to a nonprofit basis. United Methodist Resolution 282 calls for a nonprofit system.
HR 676 calls for a system financed by the federal government rather than health insurance companies. It contains provisions for the re-employment of administrative personnel who will no longer be needed by health insurance companies. United Methodist Resolutions 108 and 282 call for such a single payer system administered by the federal government.
These are far-reaching changes that cannot be effected without thoughtful discussion and vigorous advocacy in every legislative district. It can be anticipated that corporations that seek to profit from human illness, including for-profit hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and health insurance companies, will vigorously oppose this bill. It is therefore especially important that you take the following steps:
Engage your own congregation in discussion on these issues and a process of discernment of your understanding of God's will.
Engage your larger community in discussing these issues.
Write to your representatives, thanking them for their sponsorship of this resolution or encouraging them to co-sponsor it if they have not already done so.
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(This article is from the UMPower web site of the General Board of Church and Society: www.umpower.org)
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