Govt's obligation?

How do you read the U.S. constitution and your State's constitution?

 

Would you want to take a drug that's only 90% as effective if your life depended on it?

 

Who funds the government? Are the tax payers "obligated" to pay for someone else's medicine?

The more meaningful question is why people are going to the government rather than the church for this kind of help.

 

Probably because they don't have to listen to things they'd rather ignore, if the government does it.

 

Hello Scot J.

I believe a Christian case can be made for it but it would concern who the people serve, "You cannot serve both God and Money." Matt 6:24.

The Church does not support the state. It is the responsibility of the state to care for the needs of the people in it. Rom 13:4 For he is God's servant to do you good...
The Church and the state should not confuse their spheres of influence. The Church has not been put here to end up as a charity shop. We have work to do.

We in Britain had major social reforms after the Second World War. No longer would we poor be expected to go cap in hand to the masters or beg from the Church or state. From the cradle to the grave we are cared for by the state. That no man should go without free health care at the point of need. No family should go hungry or lack education because they could not afford it. That the government would house people in a major way instead of allowing landlords to rule. A major breakthrough for the working classes acheived by the enlightened uppermiddle class socialists and also enlightened uppermiddle class right wing conservatives!

It's your peoples call collectively. That above is only love in action. All citizens basic needs cared for from cradle to grave. Can't be bad.

johnp.

 

I don't go to a church that can cover the hundreds of thousands of dollars of hospital bills and medicines that I receive every month. In fact, I'm the pastor's wife and my husband is not paid by the church. What am I supposed to do in that kind of situation? I'm not trying to debate or start an argument, but I don't know what else to do!!!

 

England must be a wonderful place not to be a citizen in nowadays.

 

Hello FBCPastorsWife.
Forgive me if I pry, I don't mind if you tell me to mind my own business.
Does the state cover your medical bills?
I have heard that you have Welfare in the States. I have understood this to mean a short term cover of unemployment benefit?

I have prayed for you two.

johnp.

 

Hello church mouse guy.

Good to meet you.

Why?

johnp.

 

I expect the government to pay my hospital and doctor expenses when I am born.

I expect WIC to supply my infancy and childhood with wholesome milk and cheese and peanut butter.

I expect the government to buy me hot lunches at school and furnish me with a free education that I can choose to learn from or not to learn from.

I also expect my government to pay for after school programs so I can have recreational activities.

In addition, I expect my government to furnish me with free health care and immunizations and well checkups and mammograms and birth control when I am old enough to reproduce.

I further expect my government to pay for my college education.

Of course, if I get pregnant during my educational years, I do expect my government to pay for my illegitimate prenatal care and my baby's birth and hospital and doctor visits and any medication that is needed.

I also expect my government to provide WIC so my child will have nourishing milk and cheese and peanut butter.

But if I choose to have an abortion, I do expect my government to provide those services for me as part of my right to choose.

If I cannot work because I have a substance abuse problem, I do expect my government to provide me with adequate housing and free mental health services and food stamps and make sure I am receiving energy assistance so I can stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

I also expect a check every month because with my substance abuse problem, I cannot work, and need mental health services, provided by my government (of course), and I also expect a check in my mailbox at the beginning of each month.

When I contract hepatitis or AIDS from using dirty needles and having uncontrolled behavior due to my substance abuse/mental health problem, I expect my government will provide me with the latest treatments and research protocols to cure my deadly disease.

And in the event the treatments don't work and I need Hospice, I do expect my government will cover those expenses, as well.

Last, but not least, I do expect my government to provide a decent burial or cremation of my body, depending which state I live in.

And of course, I do expect my government to look after my children I leave behind.

 

That's one up for Mammon then I see!

johnp.

 

You don't expect much do ya LE?

 

That was rude of me LadyEagle and I apologise for it. I'd like to discuss it with you and that was no way to introduce myself. Please forgive me.
Please also forgive me for believing what I said.

[/B]I agree with most of what you said. As it stands that is ok with me.
Our Labour government, as a counter to the opposition party, want to introduce, "I also expect my government to pay for after school programs so I can have recreational activities." Before school as well. I think this is a shame, that children are farmed out for the benefit of the parents.

I expect WIC to supply my infancy and childhood with wholesome milk... Thatcher stopped the children's morning milk break.

johnp.

 

Hello poncho.

That is our reality. Dental treatment, optical treatment and prescriptions, at a flat rate, have a cash outlay unless you can get the treatment in hospital where all treatments are free. Praise the Lord.

johnp.

 

Howdy, johnp, I wasn't offended by your post.

Anyone who knows me around here (like poncho), knows I was being facetious in my post (I'm very hard line conservative), LOL, so I was playing the part of an American liberal for a moment (but it is my understanding the words "conservative" and "liberal" have a different meaning on your side of the pond, than they do here).

Now, I'll be serious:

FBCPastorswife, if you live in the state of Tennessee, have you looked into TennCare? The Governor ran into some problems with TennCare and stopped it (this past week, I believe), but the whole matter is now in litigation. You should be able to get some kind of help through TennCare. There are also some insurance plans that I can get you the names of that may be able to help you, but most will not cover existing illnesses until after a year or two.

In the USA, we do need a drug plan for the elderly. In fact, I don't even see why the elderly have to pay property taxes on their main residence and if they make under a certain amount, I believe the elderly should be exempt from all taxes.

I know several people who, many years ago, actually could have qualified for every government handout that is available in the USA, but because they were raised with a very strong work ethic, they haven't ever taken advantage of government handouts. It is not the government's responsibility to take care of a person from the cradle to the grave. Neither is it the church's responsibility to take care of a person from the cradle to the grave. But society's values have been messed up for years.

I am dead serious about this: They BETTER fix Social Security in the next couple of years. I've worked my rear end off and paid into it for too many years to be cheated out of it by fiscal irresponsibility of the crooks on Capitol Hill!

 

Now back to the health care issue. I've worked in health care for many years and I can see both sides of the issue of socialized medicine - the issues aren't trial lawyers (as President Bush claims), nor is it the doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers charging so much (they only get reimbursed a fraction of what they bill) - it is the wicked insurance companies who are driving up the costs of health care, plain and simple! While they boo-hoo about how it is necessary to raise premiums on one hand, they turn around on the other hand and show exorbitant profits. So they speak with forked tongues like so many of our politicians do. In the meantime, because insurance premiums are so astronomical, millions of working people are without health insurance. If they aren't working, they can get some public assistance. Even most hospitals will write off hospital admissions if you are destitute under the Hill-Burton act. Employers are feeling the pinch providing health insurance for employees because they pick up a big tab on their end (that the employee doesn't see, even though they, too, are paying so much out of their checks for insurance premiums), and many small businesses are no longer providing health insurance or will keep people working part-time so they can't qualify for full-time benefits.

I don't have the answers to this huge problem we face in this country, but I do know something needs to be done. Basically, I think it boils down to greed of the health insurance companies.

Now for those of you who live in the UK or Canada where you have socialized medicine, do you believe your health care is adequate and top notch, do you have long waits to see doctors or specialists or for surgeries and outpatient procedures, and/or do you have to wait in waiting rooms for hours before you are seen, and are there any problems with it or are you satisfied 100%?

 

Crooks? What crooks? Almost everybody up there on the hill is republican now remember?

 

That verse is about protecting the citizens, keeping order, executing justice-- not redistributing the wealth of its citizens. Welfare is not the business of the state but of the church and the family. A good part of the churches work IS to be looking after the widows and the orphans.

 

why not? It is of the common good; healthy people are better citizens, usually.

Because perhaps the churches cannot hold this sort of systemic burden? Never have, although many have tried.