For a while, I developed a positive hatred of all medical insurance, and invested it with a large share of blame for what ails American medicine. Many bible passages, however, strongly support the idea of insurance as a good idea. Proverbs 27:12 states, "The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it."
Though we cannot predict it in detail, illness is virtually certain to strike each of us at some time in our life. Medical insurance can provide a kind of refuge, if we are willing to foresee probable illness. Provision for the foreseeable future is also counseled in Proverbs 30:25: "Ants are the creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer." The arrival of the seasons is more predictable than the arrival of illness, but the two are comparable.
Proverbs 6:6 commends us to "Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest." Our responsibility to provide for our household is explicit in I Tim. 5:8: "But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel." It is reasonable to include medical care among the expected provision. John 19:26, 27 records Jesus' provision for His mother.
Medical care cannot easily be stored by individuals, but participation in an insurance program can perform the same function; one is "storing" a fund to be expended on anticipated future services. Proverbs 21:20 states: "In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has." Clearly, something can be set aside for future exigencies, rather than devoured foolishly.
Excerpt from "Ethical Issues in Medical Insurance"
No comments:
Post a Comment