Jesus and Obamacare

This whole response is off the cuff. Anyone who knows me at all, also then knows that I'm not at all politically minded, so I usually don't engage in these types of discussions.

That said, I wasn't aware that anyone was aware of my position on "Obamacare" although you (A facebook friend) are correct about my stance of support, and so I offer this...

To those who need the help, I am happy to think that my money is in part going toward more than just making the fat cats even fatter (although it's doing that as well).

Let's be real for a minute and call things as they are, currently it is the insurance companies that run our healthcare system and decide what's in "our best interest" regarding treatments, unless you happen to have enough money to cover those gaps, and I don't personally know anyone who does.

The reality of it is this; people live and die everyday based solely on someone's (a claims adjuster's) decision, 100s or 1000s of miles away, who is completely disconnected with impact of the situation, deciding the monetary value of human health and life versus the financial benefit and cost to the insurance company they work for, as their own best interest is measured by the company's best interest. Suffice to say, as usual, the bottom line always seems to be the bottom line.

Doctors receive kick backs from insurance companies for doing or not doing certain tests and procedures, and from pharmaceutical companies for test marketing or prescribing some drugs over others. In the end it is we who pay the price for these things, when the long term consequences come to fruition, as well as ultimately paying for the uninsured who go to the emergency room for health maintenance rather than actual emergencies, knowing they would be turned away at a doctor's office because they didn't posses an insurance card.

My 18 year old was recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and without "Obamacare" she could have been kicked off of my insurance and left on her own to find insurance that would cover a pre-existing condition, leaving our family in dire financial straits. Even with fantastic insurance (from FedEx) the luxuriously extravagant lifestyle we currently lead from my maintaining 3 jobs is severely strained. (that should be read with a good deal of sarcasm).

As far as the church and compassion goes, I'd like to think that if I attended a church they'd be there to help, but Paige's own church, clearly knowing the situation, failed to make even a gesture in that direction until I posted on my blog the parable of the sheep and goats pointing out the obvious, "as you have done unto the least of these..."

After being made aware of this post, when at last the pastor did make a gesture, I texted him afterward to say thanks for his efforts, only for the response to be a reply text simply stating that "love fulfills the law"…and hence ended any other follow up. Apparently the law has been fulfilled…with love?

I digress…

Let's be real, it is insurance companies that have made the ever increasing cost of medical care so overinflated and far out of reach for anyone who wants to simply maintain their health and all the more so for anyone with a life threatening condition that requires ongoing treatment. (Long and short term insulin, syringes, test strips, needles, and the list goes on)

As for this "legislation of compassion" thing that has been mentioned, affordable and available health care to a country's citizens to my mind doesn't really fall under that heading, after all isn't it a government's job to care for its citizens? And a community's job to care for those within that community?

As it currently stands the cost of doing so seems far too burdensome on such a small scale as a community caring for its own, especially when everyone seems to be scrapping just to make ends meet for their own households, and so it has fallen to the government I suppose.

When it comes to helping those in need, I'm happy to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's especially when it means that not only the elderly and veteran's might be included in those benefits, but the everyday citizens whose health is vital to doing the jobs that keep this country running, as well. Health that I might add, if not maintained, would not only mean personal and financial ruin, but would then also become another burden to an already failing system.

Of course, I don't really know all the ins and outs of "Obamacare", I only know how how it has affected me and the one's I love, and so far that's positively. So how could I possibly be against it?

As I see it, it's really got nothing (or at least not a whole lot) to do with Jesus and what he said unless we consider that the secular culture seems to be exemplifying more compassion to our fellow humans than our own in many ways…and then we might consider the prostitutes who get to heaven before the priests...

Just my two cents, and I certainly could be wrong...but I don't think I am.

d(-_-)b