In addition, someone very close to me has a heart problem that requires long-term, high-tech monitoring and care that was not possible 30 years ago but is commonplace today. I have seen modern medicine at it's finest.
And I am a Catholic who loves the Church.
But we should never pretend that there is not a downside to partnering with tax dollars to do that good work. Under the current system, there is always a catch.
I recognize that the flip side is that the public should show gratitude and should never forget that a lot of their care comes from religious hospitals and comes because of the goodness of others.
Yes, the government controls health care in a major way. And I don't have the answers except that perhaps it will take a hospital or two closing to get people thinking about this and demanding change. Something has to give, but I'm not sure it will until people are affected directly, because the Church has to stand on principle. The Church can't buckle under and provide services that go against it's greater mission to be faithful to the Word.
For what it is worth, I am angry that once again we are about to have a presidential election, and that once again, we are letting every one of the candidates slide in regards to health care. We are not demanding that they offer solutions to the issues mentioned in your post to our own detriment.
Prayers for your son.
“But we should never pretend that there is not a downside to partnering with tax dollars to do that good work. Under the current system, there is always a catch.”
Yes, but your prior post to which I replied seemed to suggest that if we Catholics accept government money for our hospitals, we must accept the strings that come attached to that money.
“...I think it is the height of naivete to think that you can collect tax money and that there will be no strings attached.”
I don’t view it as naivete, but rather a necessary right for which Catholics must fight vociferously.
For all that, the blame for this problem really rests at the feet of the bishops, pretty much almost entirely. For decades now, they have permitted so-called “Catholic” politicians to loudly, publicly promote policies that do wholesale violence binding Catholic teaching without any consequence, while still attracting votes in large numbers as a result of their “Catholic” identity.
Collectively, the bishops, by their culpable inaction, have led Catholic laity to the conclusion that all this “culture of life/culture of death” stuff is only so much talk.
There are few bishops who are exceptions to this general rule.
sitetest
“Prayers for your son.”
Thanks.