|
The New York State
Council of Churches has supported comprehensive
health care reform for decades, and has stressed
its importance every year that our bishops and
judicatory executives have been visiting your
office in the spring. In those visits, we have
emphasized our convictions that
· Health
and healing is central to Christianity. We see
health care as a social good that cannot be
treated as a market good. Thus we have long
favored universal health care as a vital basic
right.
·
The government has responsibility
for the public welfare (common good), to
establish justice, and to manage public
resources with a minimum of waste.
We see in our
congregations and communities the brokenness of
our present health care system:
·
Members of our congregations,
their neighbors and others in their communities
experience the loss of loved ones because that
person does not have or lost their access to
health care.
·
We have among our constituency
many who are uninsured or without adequate
insurance that are praying that they do not
incur major medical bills.
·
We hear about insurance rates
rising and wonder about who will be the next
hard-working person to be uninsured -- or
underinsured.
·
We see portrayed in the media the
small businesses who are struggling with
increased health care costs and whether they
will be able to keep offering insurance to their
employees.
Now you have the
opportunity to help these people by voting yes
on health care reform. We hope ethical
dimensions rather than financial ones will guide
you through the monumental decision you soon
have to make. Although the bill, in our
opinion, is far from perfect, we believe it is
crucial to pass it at this time and fix the
imperfections later. |
