Healthcare
- Posted by NETWORK on June 26th, 2008 filed in Healthcare, Issues, NETWORK
Through the lens of Catholic social teaching, access to quality, affordable healthcare is a fundamental human right and is essential to the common good. It should not, therefore, be treated as a commodity: only available for purchase by those who can afford it. Our nation faces a healthcare crisis marked by rising costs; the inability of employers to provide coverage for employees; closing of hospitals and clinics, especially in urban areas; nurse and physician shortages in rural and depressed areas; and rising drug expenditures.
According to the OECD, in 2002 the United States spent $5,267 per capita on health care-53 percent more than Switzerland, the next-highest-spending country, and 140 percent more than the median OECD country. Despite this, the U.S. stands alone among industrialized nations in failing to provide access to care for all citizens. The numbers of uninsured, now some 45 million, continually grow.
NETWORK believes, and the Church teaches that:
- Each human being has inherent dignity and worth;
- Health care is a basic human right.
We advocate for a health care system that is:
- Accessible to everyone in the United States
- Affordable, funded and administered in a simple, direct way
- Comprehensive, including preventative, primary, acute and long term care
- Quality, including care that is culturally appropriate.
The principle of economic equity requires “meeting the basic needs of the whole person - physical, spiritual and intellectual”, including the guarantee of affordable and quality health care. (NETWORK Economic Equity Statement, 2001).
NEWORK works with its members and with a broad coalition of faith and secular advocacy groups towards establishing a system that guarantees health care for all. In the meantime, we also advocate for the preservation and expansion of publicly-funded health care programs that benefit children, low-income families, the elderly and persons with disabilities, including Medicaid, Medicare, the Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act and the State Children’s Health Program.
Catholic Social Teaching and Health Care
“For I was sick and you took care of me.” Matthew 25: 36 NRSV
“Affordable and accessible health care is an essential safeguard of human life and a fundamental human right. Any plan to reform the nation’s health care system must be rooted in values that respect human dignity, protect human life, and meet the unique needs of the poor. We support health care that is affordable and accessible to all.”
- Faithful Citizenship: Civic Responsibility for a New Millennium (USCCB)
Health Care Dialogues
Visit Our Healthcare Future.org, a joint project of Network Education Program, the St. Joseph Health Care system, Georgetown University Medical Center and Allegheny Franciscan Ministries. Find out how you can join the national dialogue towards health care for all!
Learn More:
NETWORK on Healthcare
Our Healthcare Future
Provides a process and materials to engage the general public in a dialogue about our healthcare future.
Vision and Voice: Faithful Citizens and Health Care
An innovative four-session adult education series including a DVD of faith leaders reflecting on what the moral teachings of their tradition bring to work on health care, and action steps for individuals and communities of faith.
Catholic Health Association of the United States
A variety of resources on healthcare reform and policy analysis, healthcare advocacy, and Catholic social teaching.
USCCB’s Healthcare For All Campaign
Bishop’s statements, policy positions, and briefing papers on current and historical healthcare legislation.
