Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane. - Martin Luther King, Jr.
Happy Independence Day! One of our readers, Diana Gallaher, posted the above quote inside her comment in yesterday's Journal. Dr. King's statement is a painfully apt commentary on American healthcare today. Why would the world's most famous democracy tolerate the terrible inequality of our medical system?
King would be stunned to know that 50 million Americans live without health insurance coverage. In so many ways, we need the power of his voice and his presence to lift America out of her complacency on this issue. One answer is clear, even if it is complicated to implement. It is universal healthcare...
Yes, it would be difficult to dismantle the massive industry that has become America's HMOs. But the executives certainly won't feel any financial pain. And the first line staff will like find opportunities in the new system.
Can you imagine a world where you could enter a hospital with no fear of the financial consequences of your treatment? No billing clerks would be needed. No collection agencies would ever need to be employed. Care would be given the way it should be given - without regard to affordability.
This sounds like a Utopian vision. Perhaps it is. There's always the risk in any large entity of 
bureaucratic behavior. But what a joy it would be to be able to eliminate the money factor from the caregiving encounter.
Ultimately, these issues about our healthcare system are questions of Love. How can we insure that Love is the center of care regardless of the constraints of the system? This is the question each loving caregiver asks everyday. And on Independence Day, these questions have special relevance. It's time that American's were freed of worries about the cost of the medical care they need.
-Erie Chapman
*The above essay represents the views of the writer and not necessarily those of the Baptist Healing Trust.
