A Word on Obamacare
On the night of November 15th, 2013, I had a very long dream where I was with a group of people. We were beginning to learn how the new Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare) would affect us. We were checking out the different options on the program’s website and looking at prices for insurance coverage. What we found gave us concern. The price for insurance coverage ranged between $600 and $700 per month, with some coverage being more expensive and some being a little less expensive, based on which options were selected. This was the basic content of the dream.
I’ve been asking the Lord for more clarification on this dream as I felt like He wanted me to write about this subject, but based on a single dream I didn’t understand His heart for this situation yet. During June and July of this year I received several more dreams that help reveal His heart about this issue, but before I discuss them, I’d like to take a brief look at the current state of health insurance in the US.
Statistics on the cost of health care coverage in the US are widely available from various sources. The numbers differ slightly depending on the source. According to one report that was typical, the average family in the US spends a little more than $400 per month for health insurance coverage with an annual deductible of about $3,900. A typical single person spends $183 per month, with a deductible of $2,900.
The cost of health care has skyrocketed in recent years. There are many families and individuals who have no health insurance at all. Lack of adequate insurance coverage has forced people to stand in long lines at county hospitals, where people cannot be turned away for lack of insurance. But the limited resources that emergency departments have can’t effectively treat chronic conditions, much less offer preventative care. There is little doubt that we are in the midst of a health care crisis. The Affordable Health Care Act was proposed as a solution to this crisis.
There is no shortage of other proposals that claim to be able to fix the problems with our health care system. Some states allow health cooperatives to function as an alternative to private health insurance. Co-ops are non-profit organizations that put earnings back into the system to enhance services to patients. One of the largest health Co-ops in the nation is the Seattle-based Group Health Cooperative. Aaron Katz, of the University of Washington Health Services, says the reason co-ops are successful, is because they employ their own doctors, specialists, and pharmacies and they can reduce the amount of tests and procedures that are done, which keeps costs low.
Another choice that’s growing in popularity is the concierge medical service. With this option, an individual pays a monthly fee to enter into an agreement with a local group of physicians who provide check-ups and routine care to their clients including in some cases, house calls if the patient cannot come into the office.
Many Christians have opted to join health care networks where the cost of medical care is shared among a large group of people. These groups do not provide insurance. Patients must tell health care providers they are self-pay, but the program reimburses the member for covered expenses after an itemized bill is submitted. Examples of such programs are Christian Healthcare Ministries, Medi-Share and Samaritan Ministries.
One proposal is the adoption of a system of public health care similar to the one Canada has. According to one study, the average Canadian family pays more than $11,000 a year for their “free” health care, which has numerous problems of its own. (Canadians are terribly fond of their health care system, but even this system, as great as it is, is not immune from failure and I have reason to believe it’s not as sound as most people think. Go here for more information on that subject.)
On the night of June 7th, 2014 I had another dream. This one had to do with the effectiveness of health insurance policies. New regulations were put into place to ensure that there were no gaps in coverage.
On the night of July 23rd, 2014 I had a third dream. In this dream, I watched as a new system of payment for health care was implemented. The new system was not implemented swiftly, but rather it was done over time. Health care providers were the ones who had the task of telling their patients how the new billing system would work. Traditional private insurance payments were being phased out. In its place would be a single entity that would insure everyone. It would be responsible for handling all payment for medical services. The focus in the dream was on how the news about the new system would be disseminated, which was done mostly by health care providers.
I believe these two dreams reveal the future of our health care system as it could be if we as a nation, choose to continue relying on the wisdom of man to come up with the solutions to our health care problems. I do not believe this scenario necessarily represents God’s desire for us as a nation. I believe it illustrates one option out of several that have been set before us. But as always, the choices we make will determine our fate.
Although the White House has officially denied it, I’m concerned that Obamacare will eventually turn into the kind of single-payer system illustrated in the third dream. Some people have suggested that the end-game all along has been a single-payer system. I’m not sure if that’s true or not. But a few things are clear regarding such a system:
There are costs to letting the government do anything for you. History has proven that when you involve the government in anything, you can expect to greatly multiply the cost compared to what it would cost to do it privately, due to bureaucracy, graft and waste. The cost of health care under a government run single-payer system would come with an extremely high price tag. The current debt that US taxpayers are responsible for is approaching 18 Trillion dollars. If you consider the total unfunded liabilities the government is responsible for, the number is a staggering 127 Trillion dollars which equates to $1,012,000 per taxpayer. (Source: usdebtclock.org ) This debt must eventually be paid, or else the Fed must default. A default on the federal debt would throw the world into an economic tailspin that would take decades to recover from. Right now the cost of Federal programs is being placed on the backs of our children and grandchildren. Is this the kind of stewardship that you think God would approve of? Will the added cost of a single-payer insurance system be the straw that finally breaks the camel’s back?
If we go down the road to a single-payer system, we’re going to give one entity the power to make life and death decisions for all of us. That entity will ultimately have the final say on every issue related to health care. The second cost we’ll pay to receive universal coverage is that we’ll surrender all control over how the system works.
We live under a system right now that gives enormous power to one entity—Medicare. Because Medicare is the single largest payer for health care, it has the ability to make policies that determine the rules by which the rest of the medical community must live by. Yes, it provides medical coverage to a large population, but it gives health care providers migraines and ulcers because of its regulatory red-tape. If you don’t believe that a single entity can have the kind of power, ask your doctor or nurse practitioner the next time you see them, how much influence Medicare has on the health care system.
The question we still haven’t answered is: What is God’s plan to solve this crisis?
On the night of June 10th, 2014, I had a fourth dream. In this dream I observed different people as they worked in healthcare. I saw nurse practitioners, surgeons and physical therapists as they performed their work. I could read the thoughts of each person and hear what they were saying to one another and to their patients. In each case, when they were done with treating their patients, they said something that clearly showed they were placing all their hope in the miraculous power of God to be the solution to the problem they faced with their patient’s course of treatment. Even the most hardened skeptics had for some reason, come to an understanding that the only real hope for their patient’s survival was the power of God. They all spoke about this fact openly and unashamedly. It had clearly become the new hope for medicine and the solution to every healthcare problem.
God has always wanted to be our healer and our provider. That desire has not changed over the centuries. What has changed is our tacit acceptance of something other than God as the ultimate answer to our problems. Rather than allowing God to be the one to whom we trust our health, many of us have learned to place our trust in the hands of a surgeon, a chiropractor, or a politician who has the power to grant us insurance coverage. Few of us actually trust God to be our final answer. Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not suggesting that medical practice should be tossed out, though it could certainly benefit from a few changes. Rather than throwing the baby out with the bath water, I believe the Lord would have us to continue using medicine, but we must learn to see Him, and not the government, an insurance company or a doctor as the ultimate answer to our problems.
I believe that if we allow the government to have even more power to determine how our health care system is run, and particularly if we consent to a single-payer system, we will further empower the agendas and the wisdom of man and we will dis-empower the plan God has for us to come back under His care.
I’d like to wrap this up on a positive note: In case you haven’t noticed, Jesus is still in the healing business, and he’s using ordinary people like you and me to release His power on the sick and injured. Just imagine what our health care system would look like if a few million doctors, nurses, CNAs, x-ray techs, and paramedics were trained to heal the sick by the power of God. That my friends, could be the future of health care in the United States.
The choice is ours.
Editor’s note: This message is not to be taken as a condemnation of president Obama. My position always has been that we ought to pray for our leaders, regardless of how we feel about them personally, or how we feel about their policies.
Related:
God’s Plan for Healthcare Reform
The Collapse of Canada’s Health Care System
