Health Care Reform

Regardless of the current debates over health care laws, local medical communities could use significant self-examination about taking measured, practical steps to be more accessible to our under-privileged neighbors. Instead, poverty is often held at arm's length with little acknowledgement of our own role in perpetuating the barriers to health care.

In your own life, when is the last time you went to the doctor? Or what about the dentist? Did you procrastinate scheduling the appointment? Did you look forward to it, or were you apprehensive? How long did you wait once you got there? Were you feel ignored by the receptionist? Did you feel intimidated by the doctor?

Did you feel awkward or embarrassed while you were examined? Did you understand what the doctor said to you? Did you remember to take the meds you were prescribed? Or might you have missed one or two doses? Did you know how much 5 milliliters of syrup was? Did you remember to make the follow up appointment?

These are some of the challenges that I face with any doctor's appointment I make, regardless of my income level. So now let's remember that I rarely, if ever, have to worry about:

• Taking time off work to get to a doctor's office hours, without getting fired or sacrificing precious income needed to survive
• Finding and paying for childcare while at the appointment
• Finding transportation to the doctor's office (if you're lucky there is public transport, but often that isn't not a viable option)
• Paying for parking (our med center has little to no free parking) 
• Spending time away from work to simply sit in a waiting room
• Avoiding dirty looks from the receptionist and other patients because of the way I am dressed
• Paying for the doctor's visit (you may or may not get health benefits from your job, be able to afford the monthly cost, or even afford the copay)
• Finding transportation back home (because the person that brought you isn't necessarily available to wait around and bring you back)
• Finding time/childcare to go to the pharmacy and wait for the prescription to be filled
• Finding transportation to the pharmacy
• Paying for medication (again, often without the benefit of insurance)
• Finding transportation home
• Reading and understanding the medical instructions 
• Worrying about how to go through the whole ordeal again for the follow up appointment

Anyone can find themselves in a situation of poverty at a moment's notice: a death of a bread winner, loss of a job, an injury that prevents work, identity theft. Some of us have the privilege of a financially secure family to fall back on (even at the cost of some shame and embarrassment). But if not, you may find yourself the victim of a pervasive form of discrimination that assumes that if you are poor, you must be lazy, stupid, an addict, or in some other way wholly deserving of your lot.

God is consistent throughout the bible in His heart for the poor. From the slaves of Egypt, the nomads in the desert, Joseph the dreamer, David the shepherd, and continuing with Jesus's priorities while on earth. Look at how Jesus spent his time with the poor and the rich. Which group did he chastise with stern warnings? With which group did Jesus eat with, socialize with, count as His friends? How does His model match the relationships you value in your life?

Further, it is important to remember that the privileged have the most to gain from a relationship with the poor. This is not a charitable endeavour, but one that is fundamental for own souls. We need to understand what it is to depend on God rather than money, to enjoy every day as it comes, and not to be preoccupied with the rat race that is 'planning for the future,' to gain pleasure from relationships rather than from stuff, to respect natural resources rather than domineering over them, to trust in the daily manna rather than storing up treasures. These are skills that I do not posses in any meaningful way.  Do you? In a world where some churches have million dollar mortgages, we have a lot to learn.