Over the millennia, the Catholic Church has ministered to the sick. In this country, our church has been involved in the health care delivery system since our nation’s founding.
As health care became more sophisticated and thus more expensive, the church saw the need to definitively define what she has always known: healthcare is a basic human right.
“Man has the right to live. He has the right to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of life, particularly food, clothing, shelter, medical care, rest, and, finally, the necessary social services. In consequence, he has the right to be looked after in the event of ill health; disability stemming from his work; widowhood; old age; enforced unemployment; or whenever through no fault of his own he is deprived of the means of livelihood” (Pope John XXIII Pacem in Terras, 8).
As Christian Americans, we have a both a right and a duty to apply our values to the political choices that lay before us. Today we are in the midst of presidential campaign. Comprehensive health care reform has already emerged as an issue that will be on the forefront of the political discourse. The candidates will present their plans to us that will be crafted in language that has been vetted by focus groups and packaged to appeal to their particular constituencies.
Our challenge is and will continue to be to look beyond our party affiliations and political ideologies and to read between the lines of these plans.
In 1993, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement, A Framework for Comprehensive Health Care Reform, that helps us do just that.
In it the bishops wrote, “We believe reform of the health care system which is truly fundamental and enduring must be rooted in values that reflect the essential dignity of each person, ensure that basic human rights are protected, and recognize the unique needs and claims of the poor.”
They listed the following criteria for health care reform that not only provides universal access but also shares our values:
• “Respect for Life. Whether it preserves and enhances the sanctity and dignity of human life from conception to natural death.
• “Priority Concern for the Poor. Whether it gives special priority to meeting the most pressing health care needs of the poor and underserved, ensuring that they receive quality health services.
• “Universal Access. Whether it provides ready universal access to comprehensive health care for every person living in the United States.
• “Comprehensive Benefits. Whether it provides comprehensive benefits sufficient to maintain and promote good health; to provide preventive care; to treat disease, injury and disability appropriately; and to care for persons who are chronically ill or dying.
• “Pluralism. Whether it allows and encourages the involvement of the public and private sectors, including the voluntary, religious, and nonprofit sectors, in the delivery of care and services; and whether it ensures respect for religious and ethical values in the delivery of health care for consumers and for individual and institutional providers.
• “Quality. Whether it promotes the development of processes and standards that will help to achieve quality and equity in heath services, in the training of providers, and in the informed participation of consumers in decision making on health care.
• “Cost Containment and Controls. Whether it creates effective cost-containment measures that reduce waste, inefficiency, and unnecessary care; measures that control rising costs of competition, commercialism, and administration; and measures that provide incentives to individuals and providers for effective and economical use of limited resources.
• “Equitable Financing. Whether it assures society’s obligation to finance universal access to comprehensive health care in an equitable fashion, based on ability to pay; and whether proposed cost-sharing arrangements are designed to avoid creating barriers to effective care for the poor and vulnerable.”
As the specific health care reform plans become available, we will evaluate them in light of the above criteria and present our findings in this column. Our hope is that this will help you to cut through the rhetoric and evaluate them in light of the truth.
Steven Bozza is director of the Office of Family Life/Respect Life, Diocese of Camden.
Larry DiPaul is director of the Office of Social Justice Ministry, Diocese of Camden.