I think it is great the the church cares about health care for it’s members—but wouldn’t you think that they would help their member get health care for such an emergency.  In addition public hospitals have to provide emergency care for things such as this and if ths woman were so concerned about her ability to pay she could send them $10 per month and the hospital would be delighted!
I work with the indigent and nobody has done without the emergency care they need.  This woman is stubborn, fears doctors and/or has too much pride!

It seems odd that the patient did not ask her car insurance to pay for an injury caused by running over her foot.  This suggests that not only had she not bought health insurance (which is legal) but she had not even bought car insurance (which is illegal).

It seems to me that churches could get together and come up with a low cost, high deductable health care plan for their members.  This is particularly true of the RC church (to which I belong) and the various Southern Baptist churches, both of which have a large, relatively healthy, illegal and ininsured population. 

Rolling up one’s sleeves and coming up with a working plan that helps the folks in your parish would be doing something constructive.

Simply standing around saying “health care is a justice issue, everyone has a right to health care” means that somebody else has to provide it.  That can either be the state (with higher taxes and limited benefits) or it can be hospitals and physicians (by passing the burden onto those who are already paying for their insurance).

Frankly, I wish the churches would get back to talking about Jesus Christ, and leave talk about who should have rights to bread and circuses to Cesaer.  If they want to hand out bread to their members (as did the early church) they should plan on having their members pay for it (as did the early church).

Me, I think we should have a national health service, mostly because it will take the burden off of small businesses which currently cannot compete.  However when there is a national health service, I will leave medicine as I have no desire to provide substandard care while being sued, attacked, manipulated, and being forced to be an apologist for the economic decisions of the federal and state government.  It sucks enough to have to take the heat for the economic decisions of the various insurance companies.

However, my debts are paid off, my expenses are being increasingly minimized, and I hope to have my kids college funds paid off (or paid up) by the time I leave, and I look forward with curiousity, hope and eagerness to life outside of Medicine.

And Hey!  I’ll have free health care.  Sounds like a plan.

Oh, silly me.  When I saw the headline I thought maybe churches were going to work to cover the uninsured *themselves*, that is, identify those people in need in the congregation or surrounding community and help them pay for insurance or medical costs.

I didn’t realize that when these churches said they were working to cover the uninsured, they meant lobbying the coercive power of Caesar to *take* from others to do so.

Shalom:
I haven’t read the whole article, the link is old and dead, but from the comments… I believe I see some wrong ideas/attitudes and maybe pre-assumptions and wrong judgements- if not about this woman, certainly for the issues in generality and Complaining with unreasonable or undoable suggestions or none for the problem.

Maybe she did not know about payment plans, maybe they don’t even make enough money to feed the 3 children where even 10 dollars a month would take away even more food from them….

Maybe she did not know car insurance would cover it if you have that kind of coverage… many people have the minimum due to tough financial times, maybe she did not want to have her rates increased once making a claim, maybe she should have the tow company who was driving pay for it, ...and wow!!!! as far as the church getting involved…... comparing to Ceasar… First of all Ceasar collected money to live high and mighty for himself… not a Robin Hood character or like the old original church Jesus and the disciples started…. check it out… people lived in communiy… care true care for others… doing, not just talking and saying…“someone should”  One of the problems now is greed and selfishness… Do people need 2 or 3 homes, 4 cars, a stereo/entertainment center in every room of the house, 10 pairs of boots, buy so much they throw away food, where people are starving, have no food, no clothes, no home, etc.  All readers and commenters here are the communiy… the church.. a church is not a building… it is the body of Christ which we are all members of and should be functioning members…

There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales Acts 4:34

Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality.  At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, 2 Corin 8:13-14

This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.    2 Corin 9:12

Besides which most people do not tithe like they should because they “need so badly” that extra tv or car, many people are out of work now and cannot tithe at all… many pastors are struggling with their own lives with reduced tithings, many pastors do not have health insurance. Many pastors are working outside the church to make ends meet.  I think more and more pastors are looking into it and I just asked my pastor to think about it and have begun assisting in research for it..but here it is for a church primarily of young healthy congregation and primarily employed, it also requires the people pay something towards it…so now you get into still people who cannot afford it…it is unrealistic to expect the church to pay when there are more needs than givers. This is just one of many reasons we need so desparately to pray, pray, do, do, influence others to do do, pitch in. It’s not up to “only” one church building, one state taxes, it’s up to all individuals to come together.
as far as the churchs handing out bread and members paying for their own bread…. those who could- gave, pastors and church employees give their lives, their time to study, time for preparation, to counseling, to social outreaches, to fundraisers to hiring and paying more people to maintain the building, to offer other needed services, they have insurances to pay, utilities to pay…. the money has to come from the people, the community…. Luke 9 Matthew 10 Jesus himself said take no money nor bread nor extra tunics, (disciples going out to preach and start churches) for the worker is worth his keep.

Let’s all pray for Joel 2…new hearts and new spirits for more community care, giving, helping…

Peace, Love, Overflowing Blessings
Dorothy Ann