LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Health care reform is an issue of morality

Rev. Robert Fowler, Las Vegas

Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009 | 2:06 a.m.

President Barack Obama said recently that the debate over health care goes to “the heart of who we are as American people.”

People of faith believe the world’s richest nation shall be judged on how we treat the least among us. We believe that providing access to medical care for all citizens is not a Republican issue or Democratic issue — it’s a moral issue. Rabbis, priests, imams and Christian leaders from many denominations have signed on to the Faith for Action Coalition.

Some who oppose reform have argued that health insurance is a privilege, not a right. But does the child of a rich man deserve life more than the child of a poor man? Is he less deserving of care because he was born in the wrong place or at the wrong time? And should even one child die because we are too slow to act on this issue?

President Obama and Nevada’s own Sen. Harry Reid are on the right side of history. The cost of inaction is too great. Each year 14,000 Americans lose their health insurance. And 220 Nevadans lose their coverage every day.

But behind the statistics are real people. Whether we’ve learned our faith traditions from the Torah or the Qur’an or the Bible, we were taught that we are our brother’s keeper. And while the debate over health care has been dominated by talk of deficits and immigrants, by rumors of senior “death panels” and bureaucratic takeovers, in all this we have lost the heart of the debate — the moral obligation of a caring society to take care of the health of all of its citizens.

The writer is co-chair of Faith for Action Coalition, an interfaith group of Nevada religious leaders who support health insurance reform as a moral obligation to take care of those less fortunate.

Discussion: 28 comments so far…

By SgtRock

9/27/09 at 2:12 a.m.

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Mmm...mmmm....mmm
Barrack Hussein Obama
Mmm...mmmm....mmm
He wants to shove government run health care down our throats
Mmm...mmmm....mmm
Barrack Hussein Obama
Mmm...mmmm....mmm
He wants to cut Medicare
Mmm...mmmm....mmm
Barrack Hussein Obama
Mmm...mmmm....mmm
He wants to increase our taxes
Mmm...mmmm....mmm
Barrack Hussein Obama
Mmm...mmmm....mmm
He is cluesless about foreign policy and national defense
Mmm...mmmm....mmm
Barrack Hussein Obama
Mmm...mmmm....mmm
He should be focused on jobs but instead he focused on expanding the government and cash-for-clunkers
Mmm...mmmm....mmm
Barrack Hussein Obama
Mmm...mmmm....mmm
This year he is generating a $2 trillion dollar annual deficit and will continue to generate trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see
Mmm...mmmm....mmm
Barrack Hussein Obama
By judgesmales

9/27/09 at 3:19 a.m.

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"Health care reform is an issue of morality"

No it's not. Stop trying to run that ridiculous premise past us.

People can have "morals," whatever those happen to be. Governments cannot. If the good reverend wants universal health care because he has strong moral feelings about it, he is free to provide (and pay for) all the health care he wants based on that idea.

But neither he nor Obama is free to impose his morals on me or the nation at large, especially when the costs of his morals are coming out of my pocket.
By Future

9/27/09 at 3:44 a.m.

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It is a moral issue when liberals decide we have to have a public option instead of a private solution to healthcare.

The Cleveland Clinic is a private business - not government run

The Cleveland Clinic is run differently than most American hospital systems, and it is incredibly successful.

The Cleveland Clinic is a private business - not government run

The 85-year-old clinic has a $4.8 billion budget and 38,000 employees in Ohio, Florida, Nevada, Canada and the United Arab Emirates. It has been known as an innovator for its medical care and business operations.

The Cleveland Clinic is a private business - not government run

Hospital officials have also found ways to streamline services, reducing duplication and costs.

The Cleveland Clinic is a private business - not government run

Unlike most hospitals in the nation, the Cleveland Clinic hires doctors as salaried employees.

The Cleveland Clinic is a private business - not government run

The LV Sun is praising the Cleveland Clinic
By adrien

9/27/09 at 4:48 a.m.

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You forget that the middle and working class are out of work also and for this reason we may Have to go with the government...the Cleveland Clinic cannot serve everyone!
By Houstonjac

9/27/09 at 5:10 a.m.

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Great posts ,and Adrien, dont burden the rest of society with a small fraction who need health care and cannot afford it--just help them with an assistance insurance policy that is reasonable--Medicaid--and leave the rest of us alone! Most of us are middle class and do not want the government shoving its rules, deficits and fines down our throats!
By Birdiedreamin

9/27/09 at 6:07 a.m.

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lsten up boys and girls...
it's real simple...
you either support the greedy pig insurance companies and the money grubbing whore doctors...
or...
you support the public option!!!
By Birdiedreamin

9/27/09 at 6:15 a.m.

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hey robert...
excellent letter...
and look at the stupid pathetic lying republican comments...
clearly they have no morals...
me me me...
hell they still listen to karl i have no morals whatsoever rove for inspiration...
me me me...
ugly...
me me me...
truly ugly...
me me me...
no sense of community whatsoever...
me me me...
just grab every penny you can possibly grab...
me me me...
even if the poor innocent children among us die as a result thereof...
me me me...
sad...
me me me...
truly sad!!!
By jlb101

9/27/09 at 6:53 a.m.

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Hey Reverend, Don't you know the government is too stupid to run anything. The stupidist one of them is Obama, the one term wonder.
By KillerB

9/27/09 at 8:05 a.m.

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"...it's a moral issue..... Whether we've learned our faith traditions from the Torah or the Qur'an or the Bible, we were taught that we are our brother's keeper."

judgesmales said it best so far.

Morality has no place in legislation, especially for those of us liberated from dogma, even when it's rebranded as "faith traditions."
By LarryVegas

9/27/09 at 9:08 a.m.

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If it's such a moral issue, why doesn't the Obama administration IMMEDIATELY through a Presidential Proclamation make Medicaid available to all who can't afford health insurance and have preexisting conditions and can not obtain health insurance?

But, it's not really a moral issue with the Obama administration. Obama is using it as another crisis to get a complete government takeover of the health care system.

You see, a government takeover of the health care system advances his socialist agenda.
By SgtRock

9/27/09 at 9:55 a.m.

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All law is based on some collective sense of morality which is mainly derived from the people's various religious and philosophic beliefs.

Charity that comes from forcing one to up their property and then to give it a machine that is highly inefficient that cosumes most of the property and in turn doles out what is left in cold highly regulated written in stone help is not much of a charity at all.
By KillerB

9/27/09 at 10:09 a.m.

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"All law is based on some collective sense of morality which is mainly derived from the people's various religious and philosophic beliefs."

SgtRock -- no it's not. It's based on every person's inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Morality is nothing more than the herd's collective sense of right and wrong.

"The greatest tragedy in mankind's entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion." -- Arthur C. Clarke
By SgtRock

9/27/09 at 10:34 a.m.

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"It's based on every person's inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Where do you think that comes from?

From thin air?

A group of people at some point in time decided that is moral that government law should have those concepts. That was based on their morality which is in turn based on their basic regilious and philosophic beliefs.
By teamster

9/27/09 at 10:34 a.m.

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We took the Republicans out of power because
they have no morals.
These posts prove it.
By SgtRock

9/27/09 at 11:30 a.m.

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Yes, generating a $2 trillion deficit, Cash-for-Clunkers, cash for corporations......WOW....what morality the Democrats have!!!!!!!!
By Vegasvampire

9/27/09 at 11:48 a.m.

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Cash for clunkers was a scam, so more people would have cars with computer chips in their system and have only a repair shop to fix them.

But with health care. People don't complain we have univeral education for K-12, but they complain about everyone should not have health care?
By LarryVegas

9/27/09 at 12:26 p.m.

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New Obama health care provision will allow senior citizens to cash out at a fixed age that has yet to be determined.

This will be an extension of the "Cash for Clunkers" automobile plan, but this one will give seniors up to $4,500 if they agree to be "put down" at a yet undisclosed age.

This new program will be called "Cash for Cadavers."
By lazyfaire

9/27/09 at 1:36 p.m.

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Vamp:

Universal public education is not equivalent to universal health care. People's choices can affect how much health care they will need. Not true with education.
By pbim72

9/27/09 at 2:33 p.m.

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A right is something that does not pose a burden on another. Even speech is not a universal right if it incites violence or causes other obvious harm.

Health insurance is no more a right than food is a right. If I spend my money on drugs, alcohol, prostitutes and gambling what will happen when I get hungry? When I walk in to the grocery store the owner will throw me out when I start clamoring about my "rights" and if I do not leave the police will take me to jail.

In America, we means test those too poor to afford food. Will we do the same means testing for this "free" health care?

In some countries you have to go to mandatory obesity classes if you are overweight since health insurance is provided universally. Will we have that here?

Will we punish the alcoholic, the crack addict, the obese, the SMOKER once they have been provided these new "rights" should they fail to live up to their obligation to be healthy?

What responsibilities, reverend, will come with these new rights?
By pbim72

9/27/09 at 2:46 p.m.

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I meant 'others".
By Cadaver

9/27/09 at 6:15 p.m.

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Naturally, I'm all for the "Cash for Cadavers" program.........
By larry5

9/27/09 at 6:44 p.m.

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If you believe the government can bestow a right upon you (health care, for example) then you are on a dangerous path. If the government could grant you a right it could also remove rights from you. I don't allow them anywhere near that much power, you should not either.
By gaileus

9/27/09 at 10:29 p.m.

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Rights pose a burden of tolerance on all. It's usually too heavy a burden for those who believe that some are created more equal than others; but they change their tune when they're forced from the ranks of the haves to those of the have nots. As for government "bestowing" rights- that's exactly what the Constitution does. It's first 10 amendments are even called the Bill of Rights.
By Auslander

9/27/09 at 11:09 p.m.

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There is no constitutional right to health care, but when we see a car full of children get creamed in the intersection in front of us, we don't ask if they have insurance before we call 911. It is a moral imperative to call for help. Morality wasn't institutionalized in the Bill of Rights, but that doesn't mean we are a nation of savages.
By just_an_average_joe

9/27/09 at 11:29 p.m.

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you either support the insurance companies and the doctors.....or....

you support uneducated illiterate fools like birdie......

hmmmm..

I'll stick with the doctors and insurance companies on this one.
By teamster

9/28/09 at 12:17 a.m.

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Rev. Fowler is correct. Health care for all
citizens is a moral obligation.
By LarryVegas

9/28/09 at 8:23 a.m.

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We all have to moral obligation to help ourselves.
By Harley

9/28/09 at 11:55 p.m.

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NO ONE has a moral and/or monetary obligation to care for my health other than me.

: )