Honest Money

Health, Wealth, and the Gospel

Bob Callihan

"For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.(Matt. 6:32)

ou didn't ask to get sick. But you did, it cost a lot, and someone must pay the bills. Why not the government? After all, you pay taxes, right? You deserve it.

Is health care reform, the Clinton administration's top domestic priority, going to result in fulfillment of God's promise of better health? Even Kenneth Copeland would disagree with that suggestion. It seems, however, that the Clinton health plan would try. President Clinton is not the only one who thinks that way; he simply happened to be in the office that enabled Mrs. Clinton to put into the political machine the utopian wish that most of mankind would like to appropriate. The American Association of Retired Persons thinks the President's plan does not go far enough; that it is deficient on long-term health care, prescription drug benefits, and universal coverage. Perhaps so, but anyone who thinks that the government will actually provide tender loving care at any point in their life should think again. This is the same government that permits Kevorkianism. "Long-term health care" does not come to mind when we hear of Dr. Jack and his deadly antics. The news media promotes that, and our go vernment is not far behind.

The entitlement attitude is spreading; you can find it in nearly any country. That attitude says, Why work? The government will take care of me. If I need health care, I won't worry, the government will pick up the tab. If the government can put three trillion dollars on my tab, it can jolly well pay my bills. That attitude is rampant among many groups. They will tell you so themselves, and their leaders are worried about its effects.

The government agrees. It agrees to pick up the tab. It agrees to pay people when they are not working, and it would like to pay medical bills even when they are. And it agrees that is a terrible problem. It promises to do something about that, if you will only pay more taxes so it can expand to do more about the problem, such as providing more education, changing the rules as to who gets the health care, or requiring the beneficiary to pay part of the bill that is extremely inflated by the providers because the government or the insurance company is paying the bill. The government would like to help you.

That is not the biblical model for care of the needy (Acts 6:1). But more than that, the humanistic model tries to provide an answer despite the fact that it comprehends neither the problem nor the basis of the problem. The humanistic model can deal only with what it can see -- symptoms. The answers, therefore, can only be superficial.

The problem is twofold. First, the problem is greed, not need. We do not object to the plain fact that many who are in need ought to be supplied by those who are not in need. However, a great proportion of those who seek public assistance are not needy; they are indolent, greedy, or both. They desire to obtain all they can without effort or cost. They use the system whenever possible to enhance their welfare, whether they need subsidized health care or simply seek security in fortifying themselves with whatever may be obtained free of charge, even if it is obtained by pretense of illness.

To compound the problem, the humanistic model for health reform is politically driven by those who are not needy. When health care reform is driven by humanism, the result is dishonesty purporting to serve the dishonest. Both complain about dishonesty, and both use dishonest practices to resolve the problem. Warfare naturally escalates within the kingdom of Satan. Unfortunately, the unwary Christian can get chewed up in the machinery by succumbing to the temptations that the unregenerate pursue so vigorously and with such convincing arguments. Beware of relying on the promises of man to provide for your needs (Matt. 6:30). Your expectations will almost certainly not be fulfilled; the arm of man will fail you (Jer. 17:5).

According to Dr. Robert J. Blen-don, chairman of the Harvard School of Public Health and top analyst on American opinions about health care, the U.S. public agrees with the general goals of the Clinton health plan, i.e. permanent and universal coverage and cost containment. The U.S. public may not trust Mr. Clinton, but it will likely accept the final health-care package; it will still trust in man. We do not argue the desirability of cost containment. No one who has been paying attention would say that health care costs are not excessive. But the solution is not to add more weight to the camel's back. Guaranteed coverage and controls over public and private-sector costs will add that weight. Law that gives something to everyone while forcing parity among public and private sector payments for health services is socialized medicine. It is smoke-and-mirror cost containment. Socialized medicine has worked poorly in other countries, and will work no better here. But what is worse, Christian people w ho are caught in the system will suffer the system's failure, and will be deprived of God's providence, in both economic and health terms. The rain falls on the just and the unjust. The weather forecast is for heavy downpours.

"But to you who fear my name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings, and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. (Mal. 4:2).