One of President Obama’s campaign promises was health care reform, and he is now trying to follow through. Last year I looked at the respective candidates’ health care proposals in light of Catholic social teaching. In the midst of a national debate on health policy, it is time to revisit the issue.
One of the best resources out there on the subject is the report from the Catholic Medical Association’s Health Care Task Force, published in the Linacre Quarterly in 2005. The CMA is genuinely committed to the principles of the social teaching, including access to basic health care for all, but recognizes that any reform toward that goal must take into account economic reality, must be cognizant of the drawbacks of further government expansion into this area, and must preserve the rights of conscience of religious medical providers and patients.
A good, brief, and more recent treatment is Jeff Mirus’s reflection on the subject at CatholicCulture.org.
Last but not least, Acton’s contribution to the debate has just been printed and is now available online: A Prescription for Health Care Reform, the latest in our Christian Social Thought Series. Physician Donald Condit outlines the principles of the social teaching, assesses the problems in American health care, and points toward fruitful avenues of reform.
What happens with health care policy will likely have major economic and moral ramifications for decades to come. It’s vital that we disseminate sound ideas such as those contained in these resources.
