By Kim J. Latterell

Creator pastor

A member of my family has just come through all the appointments, tests, surgeries and hospitalizations that are inherent to a diagnosis of cancer. The outcome looks hopeful as we were fortunate to catch it in a very early stage, but will have to remain vigilant with tests and scans over these next years. We are thankful for such a not-so-small mercy due in part to the discipline of regular exams and available medical care. We are also fortunate to be insured. The church I serve has included health insurance as part of my compensation. Without it, we would have been in a financial bind, as many others have been when huge medical costs skyrocketed themselves into a daily budget. We will manage. Soon many of those who face the sudden loss of homes, savings and retirement funds as the costs of care quickly run into tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars, will manage too, thanks to the new (and imperfect) health insurance reform.

Our personal experience raised a troubling social justice question for us as a nation of families: we wondered why employment was for so long the major deciding factor in health insurance coverage in America. The events of these past months showed us how desperate families must become with no insurance or under-insurance when faced with major illness. Nearly one in four of our neighbors had to live in dread not only of the diagnosis but also the cost of treatment when they fell seriously ill. I’m grateful that we as a nation have finally decided to make adequate health care coverage the basic right of every American. Zechariah (7:9-11) thus says the LORD of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another. 

To choose to not care for tens of millions of vulnerable neighbors, as many are still threatening to do, even when we can, must come from hearts set one against another. It amazes me how many still respond to such an invitation to care with an attitude that’s changed little in over 2,000 years. That passage from Zechariah ends: “But they refused to listen and turned a stubborn shoulder, and stopped their ears in order not to hear.” Why must such kindness and mercy for neighbors in need still be in short supply? Is it possible the thank-you cries of over 30 million neighbors soon to be covered by care will finally uncover those ears, change hearts, free up shoulders to serve? I pray so.

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