Week 1: Healthcare and Christian Ethics

And Who Is My Neighbor?, James and Rachel Shepherd

To begin, let us introduce ourselves. We are a newly wed 29-going-on-30, couple; my wife is a final-year seminary student preparing for ordination, and I am a Bachelor of Arts working at a job that strikes a balance between a living wage, quality of life, and benefits. If you were a healthcare provider or insurer, you might note the following about us: we’re white non-smokers with little-to-no family or personal history of serious medical problems. Continue Reading

The Backstory: Healthcare, Christianity, and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Ginna Bairby

In this issue, For the Healing of the Nation, Unbound seeks to engage the national healthcare debate from a Reformed Christian perspective and to lift up the stories – the testimonies, if you will – of those who know from firsthand experience the way our current systems of healthcare and health insurance live into God’s vision of shalom – and the ways they fall woefully short.But before we get too far into this project that Rachel and James began for us, we need to be clear about a basic aspect of Reformed Christian ethics – the backdrop to this issue’s proclamation and witness. And that is this: It is contrary to the Reformed tradition to deny care to someone in need. Continue Reading

Giving Health Reform a Chance to Work, Leslie Woods

While most of the recent coverage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), more commonly referred to as “Obamacare,” has been negative, these news stories fail to tell a complete story. There is no doubt the Obama Administration has made some serious errors in the rollout and initial implementation of Obamacare. Nevertheless, the ACA has already made a huge difference in the lives of people who now have access to health coverage due to important changes in the health care law. And now, in the final months of the first open enrollment session of the new exchanges, even more people will see better – and hopefully less expensive – access to coverage. Continue Reading

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