Catholics: Access to health care a right
By Michael Sheedy

   As I rode the train to my friends’ home in Chicago’s suburbs following a session of the Catholic Health Association Assembly this month, a young man was telling a colleague about family and friends he was going to visit the next day.

   The friends were farmers, and had recently gone without insurance, as it was too expensive and “everyone was always healthy.” The mother had gotten a boil on her back, and let it go for a while. By the time she got real medical attention, it proved to be a cancer, which had metastasized throughout her body. Before it got very quiet on the train, he mumbled, “She will not last long.”

   This struck me, as I had just left CHA discussions on addressing the plight of the uninsured. There are about 44 million uninsured Americans (almost 3 million Floridians). Families USA is preparing to release a study indicating that over the last two years, some 80 million people had gone without health insurance at some time. This remains – but is less and less – an issue that is “someone else’s problem.” More people know others without health insurance; this moral problem is taking on a “face.”

A “moral” problem? Yes. At the assembly, a panelist, Sulpician Father Philip Keane, pointed out that while health care at the turn of the 19th century hadn’t evolved to the point it has reached today, access to a reasonable standard of health care meets the criteria of basic human “rights” delineated by Pope Leo the Great. It is a theme that as been advanced by Pope John XXIII, Pope John Paul II and the United States and Florida bishops.

   Our popular thinking about rights has to do with “non-interference.” The Catholic approach digs deeper; emphasizing that everyone should have access to basic human goods. This is the notion “distributive justice,” and its obligations can be met in various ways, at times in partnership with government to serve the common good. Securing such rights assures the stability of society, and enables us Christians to better embody the mystery of our triune God – a community of persons loving and caring for one another.

   This is a political problem as well. The president and Republican leadership are offering approaches to improve health care delivery. Each Democratic presidential candidate has offered a plan as well. No candidate wants to be perceived as “against health care.”

   Florida has taken several innovative steps to expand access to care. The governor just signed legislation making health savings accounts (HSAs) available. These will allow persons to purchase high-deductible health plans at lower cost, and to put money aside that they can keep and spend later on health care needs.

   Our KidCare program, which serves primarily the children of working poor families, has been overhauled. KidCare has an unprecedented higher level of funding, but more hurdles for families to clear to get or stay covered, and there will only be a single month-long window for new applicants next year (coming up in January).

   “Health Flex” plans – which have an unproven track record in their initial pilot programs – can now be established statewide. These “bare bones” plans will cover some services – not all those covered by traditional insurance – at lower cost for those who have been without insurance for six months, on the theory that some coverage is better than none.

   Will these well-intentioned efforts make health care more accessible? Do they improve the status quo enough? Time will tell. One thing remains certain: for now, too many people do not have the access to health care they need.
 

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