Health care reform:
Catholics should play key role on critical issue

		Eye on the  Capitol  John Huebscher

As the debate over the state budget enters its final phase, health care reform will move to center stage. It is a critical issue for all of us and one with definite moral implications.

Capitol observers expect Senate Democrats to support a proposal for comprehensive health care reform. One aspect of the debate will be whether the plan is added to the budget bill or dealt with as separate legislation.

Either way the debate will be one of the most important of the decade. And it is a debate in which Catholics as faithful citizens should play a key part.

Catholic voice

At this point, the bishops' role in the debate is not to endorse a specific approach or solution to health care reform, though at some point they may choose to do so.

Rather, the Wisconsin Catholic Conference (WCC) will focus on, one, reminding people of the importance of this issue, and, two, identifying the principles that should guide the debate.

Clearly health care as an issue directly impacts human life and dignity. Forty-four years ago in his encyclical letter Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth), Pope John XXIII identified medical care and security during times of illness as basic human rights.

Fourteen years ago, the bishops of the United States reaffirmed that stance. "Health care is more than a commodity," they wrote.

"It is an essential safeguard of human life and dignity. We believe our people's health care should not depend on where they work, how much their parents earn, or where they live."

Key principles

Here in Wisconsin, the Catholic Conference has suggested that health care reform advocacy should focus on four key principles:

First, any reform must make concern for the poor and universal access a high priority. Those whom the current system fails should receive first consideration for allocation of health care resources.

Reform must also convey a genuine respect for human life and human dignity. The right to health care is rooted in the intrinsic value of all human life. Thus a reformed system should insure access to care for persons in the womb, throughout infancy and childhood, into adult life and at the end of life, when care is possible even when cure is not.

Reform must pursue the common good and preserve pluralism. A reformed health care system need not be a bureaucratic behemoth.

Rather, a reformed system should build upon the established resources of the private and public sector, enhancing their effectiveness as partners.

Further, any system must continue to respect the religious and ethical values of both individuals and institutions that provide care.

Reform must serve to restrain costs. There is a need to correct the imbalance between our financial investment in health care and our ability to provide a just distribution of health care services.

We need change

The WCC is urging Catholics and others to assess any health care reform plan in light of these principles.

As we do so, we must recognize that people of good will can differ over how to achieve the goals in these principles. But the debate over how to realize these ideals is much different than an argument over whether we should try to achieve these goals at all.

Whether health care reform is part of the budget or dealt with later is a matter our political leaders will determine, but change is certainly in the air. And it is a change that needs to happen.

John Huebscher is executive director of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference in Madison.

This light of mine: Let it shine

		Grand Mom  Audrey  Mettel Fixmer

As I write this it is exactly two weeks until moving day. I've completed the big garage sale, the sorting of closets and cupboards, the vanloads of donations to charity, and the happier sharing of prize possessions with our kids.

Still I was in turmoil. I asked myself every day, "Why am I doing this?" Many others my age (among them my husband) are already living in assisted living homes. Why am I about to take on still another responsibility as a homeowner and the challenge of living alone?

Trust in God

For many months I have asked God to show me what He wants me to do. Hearing how bad the housing market was for sellers, I put our big home on the market anyway, saying God will show me.

If I am supposed to sell it, He will find me a buyer. If it takes a year or more, I'll see what my condition is like at that time and then figure out where to go.

After three hard winter months my health was finally coming around in spring when I put the house on the market. The first people to go through it bought it! God was speaking loud and clear.

My work is not yet done. It was not hard to find a small condo where the lawn and outside work was taken care of in a nice neighborhood where I already had several friends.

The price was right, too, assuring me that we could still afford the best care for Bob. Despite this reassurance, I still had this nagging doubt in my mind. That is, until the readings in Mass a few days ago.

Salt of the earth

In the Gospel of Matthew, we read, "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?" I looked around at some of the old salts attending daily Mass. Most of them were right around my age, some a little younger.

There's Clare, a retired nurse, who brought St. Vincent de Paul into our parish a few years ago and has been feeding and clothing the poor and paying their light and heating bills ever since.

There's John, a retired banker, who replaced our sump pump when it was needed and who goes about doing handyman work for all kinds of elderly or handicapped people.

Don't hide the light

The Gospel of Matthew goes on to use another metaphor for our value in this world: "You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lamp stand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father."

I looked at my friends Mary and Betty and thought about all of the work they do for the church: CCW, Parish Council, and a never-ending series of funeral lunches and bake sales and liturgy meetings. They give of their time and talent incessantly. Their light is blindingly bright.

Compared to some my age, I'm a dim bulb, indeed, but it looks as if I will have to share what little light is left. God willing I will cherish this little light of mine. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

"Grandmom" likes hearing from other senior citizens who enjoy aging at P.O. Box 216, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538.