Nationalized Health Care ... WWJD?

A recent comment left on my blog by someone who appears to support NaziCare attempted to make the case that Jesus would support a Universal, Single Payor, Nationalized health care system. "Consider whether the “Public Option”, whether “Single Payer”, whether “Universal” Health Insurance, isn’t something more like WWJD than the alternative."

I gave a somewhat flippant retort, saying that when Jesus healed all the folks around him 2000 years ago, he didn't attempt to bankrupt the nation in the process. Perhaps the challenge of WWJD deserves a longer response.

I guess it would be cool if Jesus Himself would just appear out of heaven and say "I like the Obama health care plan!" and then go back and leave us all alone.

Then again, Jesus isn't a puppet on a liberal string. I don't think Jesus would say something like that without also mentioning things like the death panels, about government funded abortions, about confiscatory taxation, about the rationing of care, about people dying while waiting for operations, about people getting a pain pill instead of surgery, and about all the lying that is coming from congress and the President. I suspect he may care about those things, too.

I don't think Jesus would come back to support national health care and ignore all of our sin, all the babies we have slaughtered through abortions and all the babies we want to continue to slaughter through government funded abortions. If Jesus would only ignore all of our lies, our theft, our blasphemy, rampant homosexuality and all of the porn we have published and made available to our children, he could just tell all the Christian leaders to support government paid health care and then go away and let us live our lives like we want ... wouldn't that be great?

Of course, the accusation that not supporting Universal Health Care is somehow an UnChristian position ignores the fact that Jesus advocated personal responsibility and personal charity. He never advocated an increase government bureaucracy to force charity from people. The accusation also ignores all of the Catholic and Baptist hospitals (not to mention others). It ignores the fact that Christians, conservatives and republicans give more to charities that help the poor than atheists, liberals and democrats. The accusation also ignores the fact that the left wants any mention of God, Jesus and Christian principles left out of our political debates, except when they can twist the Christian faith around to suit their purposes.

In the liberal mind, there is an unproven assumption that their goal of nationalizing health care is more christian than other solutions. However, the more I read what Jesus taught, the more I see the importance of a moral law imposed by seeking God, because a man with the Holy Spirit guiding him will do the right thing, while a society governed by civil law enforced by the ungodly remains and becomes even more ungodly.

The national health plan involves seizing assets from the populace; power over life and death; and forced redistribution of wealth (which was big in Roman times); none of which Jesus advocated. His directives on wealth were always toward individual conscience under divine direction.

Under our current system, people who need health care usually get it. It is not uncommon at all for doctors to provide free care, including surgical care, pharmacies to provide free medications to the uninsured and underinsured, and hospitals and other health care providers to write off bills for those who cannot pay their bills. While there are exceptions, and while people do "slip through the cracks," so to speak, there is a great deal of "Christian Charity" in the current system. To imply that a universal single payer system is somehow more "Christian" is to close your eyes to the inherent charity in the current system.

I doubt this is the last word on the subject, but I think it is a tough proposition to claim that a universal single payor system is the answer to the question WWJD.

But as long as we are on the subject, did you know that Jesus advocated a "flat tax?" Not a flat percentage, such as 17%, but a flat dollar amount tax, such as $1000 for every citizen. (You have to dig, but it's there.) Would the liberals who want to "force" Christians into accepting universal health care with the WWJD argument be willing to apply Biblical principles and the WWJD argument to the flat tax issue? When it comes to that, you could call me a "doubting Thomas."