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maryjk
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It wouldn’t be the first time someone like that was here.
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Ender
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This is the claim; the facts, however, appear to be somewhat different as this recent statement from Bishop Stephen Blaire (Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development) makes clear:
“Since 1919, the United States Catholic bishops have supported decent health care for all and government and private action to advance this essential goal.”
I am sure most of us can recognize the difference between supporting “decent health care” and calling for “universal health care.” The “since 1919” part however does appear to be correct. For anyone tempted to accept the claim that the Church supports universal health care it is important to understand why such a claim could not be correct. The Church does not specify the means that should be adopted to achieve a specific goal. Universal health care is merely one approach among a litany of other ways to provide “decent health care” and the Church takes no position at all on such prudential choices.
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smndtupidisaftr
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I’ll take the leap. Yes it should be removed, and yes it is socialistic.
We have to remember, though, that before the healthcare industry was heavily regulated and subsidized as it is today, that most hospitals also ran somewhat like a charity and the doctors charged fees based on egalitarianism (those who could pay more were charged more, and those who could not were charged less). This allowed hospitals to help the truly needy, and it was never something that was forced.
This reminds me of the charity argument. People always ask what will happen to the poor and destitute and sickly if we were to get rid of medicare/social security/etc. In the past, relief societies were set up that helped people based on need, not on pauperism (aka putting yourself into your own mess). For instance, widows and children often received much help from the community, but drunkards and laggards were left to fend for themselves. The thought was that relieving the poverty of the latter would be at the expense of their eternal soul. As far as I can tell, we don’t have much control over that with a nationalized system.
Just some food for thought.
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kozlosap
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What about those with pre-existing conditions or small children with devastating illnesses who have reached the cap amount on their insurance? My 27 year old daughter had two cardiac ablations at age 25 when she was still covered under my insurance. She was still in law school so when she turned 26 she was covered by the university insurance plan. When she graduated and tried to get health insurance she was turned down multiple times. She was on the verge of moving to London where she would be covered regardless of her prior health, when the State of California Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan was offered to her after the last denial by a private insurance company. We were thrilled and she is quite happy to pay the yearly deductable and co-pays and monthly fees. According to the paperwork, the funding for the program comes partially from tobacco tax recovery. 23 days after she was covered on January 1, 2012 she developed acute appendicitis and the cost for the surgery and hospitalization was $61,000.00. 
She only had to pay $2500.
She only had to pay $2500.
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sedonaman
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It is not. How can it be? It was a product of øbama, and he is waging war against Christians.
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ACCT
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I listen to what Mary, the Queen of Peace, is saying at Medjugorje. Thirty years ago she said that a great battle was unfolding between her son and Satan. She said that Satan is showing his shameful face. She also said that Pride (Satan) is ascending his throne. Additionally, she said that we have built a world without God and our world is failing and everything is passing.
I have also been a student and teacher of economics for the past 44 years. Our global financial world is falling apart. The dollar is not on its death bed yet; however, expect the dollar to lose another 50% of its purchasing power when the dollar is no longer the reserve currency of the world, perhaps in the next 3-4 years.
I suggest that we all pray for Mary’s plan of peace.
Do you know about the coming 10 chastisements? The first three secrets will be pre-released, one by one, from Mirjana, the Medjugorje visionary, first to Father Petar. He will then read them to the world three days before they actually happen. Father Petar will read each secret from Medjugorje, Yugoslavia. There will be short intervals between the first, second and third secrets.
Only God knows when this will happen. Furthermore, we do not know the order in which each one of the first three secrets will happen. Additionally, we have no clue about any of the remaining seven secrets.
Even the Catholic Church will not say that the alleged apparitions at Medjugore are “worthy of belief” until many years after the apparitions cease, and there are many documented miracles, etc. However, I have seen the “miracle of the sun” with my own eyes, and I have talked to skeptics like Dale Brown, former LSU basketball coach, who has told me of the miracles that he experienced.
Time is short. My guess is that we all will experience God in a profound way, perhaps as Paul did on his way to Damascus.
The chastisements will begin after the last visionary receives the 10th secret. Most of the visionaries have already received all 10 secrets. Only a couple of the visionaries have received only 9 of the secrets.
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Andromedus
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I am not convinced that the Mother of God has said anything at all in Medjugorje so I am sorry but much of what you say in this post is irrelevant to me.
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Nate13
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So why don’t we only make a public option available for people like your daughter kind of like the State of California did? The problem is the government felt it was necessary to wrap us all into this healthcare program. The opposite of the Affordable Health Care act is not people like your daughter are out of luck. There are other solutions that don’t require the federal government to stomp all over everyone’s rights.What about those with pre-existing conditions or small children with devastating illnesses who have reached the cap amount on their insurance? My 27 year old daughter had two cardiac ablations at age 25 when she was still covered under my insurance. She was still in law school so when she turned 26 she was covered by the university insurance plan. When she graduated and tried to get health insurance she was turned down multiple times. She was on the verge of moving to London where she would be covered regardless of her prior health, when the State of California Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan was offered to her after the last denial by a private insurance company. We were thrilled and she is quite happy to pay the yearly deductable and co-pays and monthly fees. According to the paperwork, the funding for the program comes partially from tobacco tax recovery. 23 days after she was covered on January 1, 2012 she developed acute appendicitis and the cost for the surgery and hospitalization was $61,000.00.
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mjakemccoy
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Mother Theresa is known throughout the world as one of the greatest health care providers last century. She did most of that with a kind word and a bucket of water. No one should be denied health care in the US, and no one could be denied health care before this hole debacle started. No hospital can legally refuse a patient whose life is in danger! Certainly there are health care means that are far too expensive for most to afford, but some form of end of life care is still their responsibility. Part of these costs are driven by gov’t intervention and regulation. If we offered practices performed 100 years ago at a discount, we could lower costs considerably. Forget the MRI’s, fancy drugs, just old school doctorin and we’d be more affordable. Competition is the American way, why not let hospitals compete too?
Another thing we Americans need to remember is everyone dies…Everyone. Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead, but Lazarus still eventually died. All the healthcare in the world, we’re still going to die. Our hope is not in living forever in this life, but living forever in the life after. That said; is it moral for the hospitals to drain a family’s or a country’s savings digging around inside a dying man who has little chance of survival or recovery? Me I’d rather die with Mother Theresa at my side saying a kind word than a dr. cutting me open, running my family off, and trying to keep me going long enough to pay for his third kid’s college education. I’m a firm defender of life, but we all still have to be able to let go too. That is hard to do, and hard to deal with. Most medical costs are assumed during end of life care- hospitals, nursing homes, etc. Why would you run a quadruple bypass surgery on an 80 yr. old man? Most of them don’t survive the surgery. And when they don’t, the grieving family flips the bill. I’ve seen this before and doctors should know better. I think they should offer guaranteed work. If you die they flip the bill. Dr.s would then have an incentive to not perform wasteful/risky surgeries.
The Church is adamantly opposed to redistribution of wealth. So is it right for the government to take my money, reallocate it to support the health needs of someone who may or may not survive a costly surgery? That is not the government’s place, never has been. Healthcare is Church ground, always has been. The Catholic Church invented hospitals! Get the state out of healthcare and let the Church do what she does best, and support the Church. Don’t encourage the government to force us to pad their pockets, let the Church do it, and it will be our responsibility to provide for their needs. Your heart is in the right place in wanting to care for the needy, we all bare that responsibility, but it is not the job of the federal government. May God have mercy on our nation.
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vsedriver
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True, as long as:
1: it is a national health care system and not a national health care insurance system. Insurance is not health care. Insurance is a means to pay for health care. There are more and better ways to pay for health care.
2: doesn’t force religions to violate their moral teachings and doesn’t force churches to abandon their God given directives to minister to the poor, the sick etc.
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vsedriver
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so basically the government offered an insurance plan to fill in the gap that private industry insurance didn’t want to deal with. That makes perfect sense. Doesn’t involve employers and doesn’t dictate to insurance companies what they must insure.What about those with pre-existing conditions or small children with devastating illnesses who have reached the cap amount on their insurance? My 27 year old daughter had two cardiac ablations at age 25 when she was still covered under my insurance. She was still in law school so when she turned 26 she was covered by the university insurance plan. When she graduated and tried to get health insurance she was turned down multiple times. She was on the verge of moving to London where she would be covered regardless of her prior health, when the State of California Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan was offered to her after the last denial by a private insurance company. We were thrilled and she is quite happy to pay the yearly deductable and co-pays and monthly fees. According to the paperwork, the funding for the program comes partially from tobacco tax recovery. 23 days after she was covered on January 1, 2012 she developed acute appendicitis and the cost for the surgery and hospitalization was $61,000.00.
The real crime here is why her surgery and hospitalization costs were so high. Get the costs down so people can afford to pay a medical bill without having to carry insurance.
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vsedriver
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It is unChristian if your wealth is confiscated by the government against your will. Jesus gave us a real mandate to care for the poor and the sick and all who are less fortunate here on earth. But that can only be done by genuine gifts of charity.
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sedonaman
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If they covered pre-existing conditions, how would you prevent people from waiting until they got sick or injured before they bought insurance?
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InJesusItrust
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And yet Jesus said to suffer silently and give up your things to whoever asks. Self denial requires suffering silently.
The one who steals your property is unChristian. But letting it happen for the benefit of others IS Christian.
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smndtupidisaftr
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In essence, you’re telling us to passively accept an “unChristian” act?
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worldpaz
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Yes, “whoever” asks, not “whatever.” It is a personal choice to give to another individual. And it is Christian if done voluntarily at the goodness of your heart in the name of the Lord, not Christian if forced upon individuals by an entity ready to trample on your beliefs or … abuse them, for that matter.
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ACCT
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ACCT
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That much is very obvious. However, we all have our lines drawn in the sand. What is irrelevant today will become very relevant and obvious tomorrow. We are living in God’s mercy and I am doing what I can while I still can. Soon we will be living under God’s judgement, and I will able to do nothing.
Jesus talked about faith in God. However, Mary is important. Martin Luther once said, “Without doubt Mary is the Mother of God…and in this one word is contained every honor which can be given her.”
Additionally, the father of modern Pentecostalism, David du Plessis, visited Medjugorje, Yugoslavia. He said that the apparitions were from the great charismatic leader, God. He also said that Medjugorje was a revival, the likes of which he had given up seeing in his lifetime.
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ACCT
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kozlosap
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??? Are you suggesting that people with pre-existing conditions shouldn’t have health insurance, that only healthy people should? I have never been without health insurance in my entire life, and it is a true blessing. When I was born in 1953, 12 weeks premature, my parents had no health insurance. They “paid me off” for 6 years. My parents taught us that we were to have health insurance every day of our lives. The 6 months my daughter was without insurance were horrible. What would have happened if she had needed another emergency cardiac surgery?
When people who don’t have health coverage end up in the ER or having huge procedures completed, who pays? You and I pay in higher premiums. One CT scan is about $1200 now - yes, the prices are outrageous. I certainly don’t believe in the mandate, but how do we control those who just show up and expect to be treated without paying? In California if you don’t have proof of car insurance, you are not allowed to register your car or drive on the roads. I still have to carry “uninsured motorist” coverage in my policy. There must be some middle ground that can be found that people can accept.
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