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One of the big issues in the 2008 presidential election was healthcare reform. Millions today do not have health insurance because of cost, loss of job or employers that do not offer health coverage. Those that do have it may not have adequate insurance to cover some things, and it is a financial burden paying the premiums. Both presidential candidates had their own proposals as to how best to solve the healthcare crisis. Both republican and democratic senators are currently working on turning ideas into legislation to cover about 50 million people without health insurance, and to contain cost for everyone else. This time it is really going to happen. Or so they claim. They will have to defy history.
Can the promises be kept?
Grand plans to revamp healthcare have a half–century history of collapsing. Lawmakers are not unified on some of the most important issues today. How much should the government be involved? How much responsibility goes to the employer and how much to the individual? “This is the toughest issue we have ever taken on, every part has got a chance of blowing up,” said Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, the top republican on the Senate Finance Committee overseeing government health programs and taxes. In a time of recession and mounting national debt, one of the hardest issues is cost. Guaranteeing coverage for all could cost 1.5 trillion over 10 years.
President Barack Obama has promised to make health insurance affordable and accessible to all. According to his web site Barackobama.com, his plan will lower healthcare costs by $2,500 for a typical family, and his plan will require coverage of preventive services including cancer screenings and will increase state and local preparedness for terrorist attacks and natural disasters. His plan also would require insurance companies to cover pre–existing conditions so all Americans regardless of their health status or history can get comprehensive benefits at fair and stable premiums. These proposals and ideas sound good and would certainly help many be able to have coverage, but as was mentioned earlier, to put these proposals and ideas into legislation would defy history.
Bernadine Healy, M.D. stated in U.S. News and World Report that “healthcare costs are growing so fast that they are eating up state and federal budgets, overwhelming people’s ability to afford premiums…Some 158 million working Americans are at risk, as their total family insurance premiums have risen in round numbers from $6,000 in 1999 to $13,000 in 2008….Overall healthcare spending has grown numbingly from $700 billion in 1985 to almost $2 trillion in 2005. For reference the entire federal budget is $3 trillion.” She goes on to explain that the driving force behind rising insurance costs is the exorbitant price tag on new medicines and medical technologies. Dr. Healy cites a drug called Avastin that is used to treat cancer, but at a cost of over $100,000 per year! According to Dr. Healy’s book, insurers deal with these rising costs by “charging higher premiums, increasing copayments and deductibles, and limiting coverage and denying claims. But what’s needed is cost reduction, not cost shifting” (“Is Health Care Armageddon Next?” Oct. 2, 2008).
Reality check
What choices are available to those who are laid off or whose employer goes out of business and they are suddenly faced with the question of what to do about their health insurance? Federal law requires that they be given the option to continue with the coverage they had for eighteen months under the COBRA plan. However, in order to take advantage of COBRA, a person must pay the full premium—the former employer’s share and the share they paid—plus a 2% fee. This temporary solution is one that many cannot afford, and if a member of the family has a preexisting condition, most insurance companies won’t cover him if he has a lapse in coverage.
The baby boomer generation is being hit particularly hard by the healthcare crisis. Sharon O’Brien writes for Senior Living on about.com. In a recent article she cited statistics from Commonwealth Fund showing that more than 60% of employed adults between 50 and 64 years old suffer from at least one chronic disease like arthritis, diabetes or high blood pressure, and 20% of them are either uninsured, or have had a lapse in coverage at some point since turning 50 (“Baby Boomers and Healthcare: What are the Problems and What can be Done?”).
Promises to count on
How will the U.S. healthcare system handle the medical needs of low and middle income baby boomers in the years to come? Karen Davis, president of Commonwealth Fund, states, “Numerous studies show that while the U.S. healthcare system spends far more than other countries on healthcare, we do not get commensurate value for our healthcare dollars. As millions of aging baby boomers demand more from our already strained health system, it is imperative that we move toward a high performance system of healthcare that is affordable, equitable, safe, efficient, and patient–centered.”
Well, that would be great, but getting lawmakers to agree on how to bring this about is one of the big issues. Will the problems with healthcare ever be solved? Is there light at the end of the tunnel? What is the solution? George Washington said, “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.” But we live in a world that is moving farther away from God and from following the teachings contained in the Bible. The Bible tells us that there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end result, leaving God out of the picture, leads to destruction (Prov. 14:12).
But there is hope! When Jesus was on this earth, he came preaching a message of hope and good news—the good news of the coming government of God (Mark 1:14). We hear politicians today making promises of better times, but bringing them to pass never seems to happen. The Bible tells us that God, who cannot lie, will keep His promises, and what He says is going to happen and will happen just the way He said (Tit. 1:2). Once God sets up His government on this earth, it will last forever, and there will be fairness and prosperity for all (Isa. 9:7).
What will God’s healthcare plan be? Will it take advantage of anyone? Will it be affordable? Will it cover any and every kind of illness? What about a preexisting condition someone may have? The Bible reveals the mind of God, and He inspired the apostle John to write, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health…” (III John 1:2). In God’s government with Jesus Christ as the King, everyone will have abundant health and prosperity: “For I will restore health unto you, and I will heal thee of thy wounds…” (Jer. 30:17).
Addressing the causes
Very simply stated, and with no red tape involved, no costly prescriptions, no side effects, people will be healed of their sicknesses. The illnesses that are incurable today will be no problem for God: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing…” (Isa. 35:5–6).
In God’s soon coming Kingdom the cause of sickness and disease will be removed. Good, nutritious food will be available in abundance (Jer. 31:12–14). People will be taught, and will live by, the laws of health. They will have pure water, fresh air and no pollution. In the government of God, the causes of the problem will be taken care of, not just the effects.
Sickness and disease occur only when natural laws that God put in motion are broken. Jesus plainly taught that healing is the forgiveness of sin (Matt. 9:2–6). Notice what God told Israel after he brought them out of Egypt: “If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee” (Ex. 15:26). Blessings come from obeying the laws of God and curses come from breaking those laws. Today the majority are not keeping the laws of God. Many churches teach that those laws are no longer to be kept, and sicknesses, diseases, and other terrible problems are the result. These issues will only get worse as long as God is not in the picture.
Is there a solution to the healthcare crisis? Yes, there is. It will end with the establishment of God’s government on this earth. As the prophet Jeremiah was inspired to write in Jeremiah 31:17: “There is hope in your future, says the Lord” (NKJV). God speed that day!