CATHOLIC IDENTITY SERIES

Universal health care: the Catholic approach

FATHER JOHN J. PASQUINI | SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA CATHOLIC

Posted: 10.16.09

As Catholics, we are called to be obedient to the successors of the apostles, the bishops, in union with the successor of Peter, the pope. It is here that we find the Church’s authentic teachings.

It is estimated that anywhere between 40 million to 50 million Americans are without health care. In the wealthiest nation the world has ever known, this is intolerable.

The Catholic Church has always taught that a society’s most vulnerable members must be respected. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that providing health care for all of a nation’s citizens is a basic requirement of a civilized society (CCC 2288). The great Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical letter “Laborem Exercens” (“On Human Work”), reminds the nations of the world that health care “should be easily available for people and that as far as possible it should be cheap or even free of charge” (19:5). People do not cease to be human when they are poor!

Having said this, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in union with the Holy Father, has pointed out that the current approaches to health care being proposed are unacceptable. Any proposed health care plan must respect the dignity of the person from conception to natural death. The Church promotes a “culture of life” health care system as opposed to a “culture of death” health care system.

The current proposals either mandate or allow the funding, directly or indirectly, of abortions. In a society where one out of four children conceived is aborted, where the epidemic of post-abortion trauma is damaging women, men, and children, this is not acceptable. The funding of embryonic stem-cell research, in the name of medical research, is not acceptable. The forcing of Catholic physicians to abandon their consciences and to prescribe abortions or contraceptives, especially those which are abortifacients – abortion-causing agents – is not acceptable. Finally, the detaching of patients from their health care choices – through health care panels, such as end-of-life panels – is not acceptable. With the passing of euthanasia laws – assisted suicide laws – in several states, the providing of funds for euthanizing people is not acceptable.

It is worth noting that the Netherlands has had legalized euthanasia for quite a while, and the consequence has been catastrophic – one out of four people in the Netherlands is euthanized, often without the patient’s approval. The curtailing of care for the elderly and the handicapped, which is implied by the current proposals, is not acceptable. Making decisions for the elderly or the handicapped based upon a government’s assessment of what it perceives as an acceptable or unacceptable quality-of-life standard is not acceptable. Likewise, the cost-effectiveness allowances regarding treatment of patients is unacceptable and does great damage to the relationship that should exist between a physician and a patient (cf. USCCB, Cardinal Justin Rigali, Committee on Pro-Life Activities, Sept. 28, 2009).

Health care is a right, not a privilege. Because this is so, it is also unsatisfactory to allow the status quo to remain, for no human being should be denied the rights due to him or her because of his or her status in society.

How did we find ourselves in this predicament? I think the famous cliché summarizes it all: “All that is needed for evil to prevail is for good people to remain silent.” Yes, all that is needed for the culture of death to prevail is for the people of the culture of life, of the Gospel of life, to remain silent. Until we speak up and make our Catholic faith loudly and fervently known, little will be accomplished. Let us not remain silent! Let us scream the Gospel of Life from the top of the mountains! Let us build an American infrastructure and health care system that is built upon the dignity of the human person, rich or poor, young or old, healthy or ill.

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