We at Faith in Healthcare often hear some skepticism about the prospects for ensuring healthcare for all in the U.S., without the barriers of premiums, co-pays, and deductibles.
How to respond to the doubters? It is tempting to simply lean on the promise first made by abolitionist minister Theodore Parker: “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” This assurance was often cited by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., among other legendary activists for justice. But what evidence do we have that it is true?
Plenty. Just as it may seem impossible now that we will achieve healthcare for all, it once seemed just as impossible to win the human rights battles of the past. Abolitionists inspired the women’s suffragists, who in turn inspired Gandhi and the anti-colonial movement. The resisters of colonialism inspired the civil rights advocates like Dr. King, who inspire us today.
So, with the goal of adding a link or two to that powerful chain, Faith in Healthcare provides this list we call the “Bending the Arc Book Club.” This collection of books—and sometimes films—tells the stories of the great movements of the past. All of the books mentioned include web links to the publishers or online book sellers.
National Nurses United has been a leading voice in the Medicare for All movement, bringing the moral power and practical insight that comes from their members’ daily service on the front lines of healthcare. Faith in Healthcare is grateful that Zenei Cortez, RN, president of National Nurses United, is the latest advocate to join us for a Five-Question Interview.
Five-Question Interview with Meg Jones-Monteiro of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
The corporate shareholder advocacy work of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility is a proven tool for creating justice. For example, shareholders, including faith organizations, played a vital role in dismantling the financial foundation of the South African apartheid government. So, Faith in Healthcare is excited that Meg Jones-Monteiro, program director for health equity at ICCR, is the latest faith-based advocate to join us for a Five-Question Interview.
Thank you to our friends at Sojourners for publishing a version of this article, titled “Medicine Monopolies Are Poised to Get Worse”, by our editor. Click here if you want to see the article as it was published on Sojourners’ website.
The statistics demonstrating the scope of our nation’s healthcare crisis are appalling enough. Yet, as disturbing as these numbers are, they are abstractions. They mask the reality that every data point is someone’s mother or spouse or beloved child, enduring unrelenting, grinding pain and days and nights tortured by illness. This week’s issue of Faith in Healthcare is devoted to pulling together a few of the many reported stories of real people who have been victimized by a healthcare system that excels at generating corporate profits, but fails at the basic task of caring for those in need.
The Rev. Jimmie R. Hawkins is the director of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. Office of Public Witness , which advocates the social witness perspectives and policies of the Presbyterian General Assembly. Rev. Hawkins and the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. are known for pushing for bold reforms in access to healthcare. He is the latest faith-motivated advocate for healthcare justice to participate in Faith in Healthcare’s Five-Question Interview
Jessie Wise is a co-founder of Faith in Healthcare, an attorney, and a member of the Jewish community in Indianapolis.
Progressive American Jews like me are called by our faith to focus on this country’s healthcare crisis, particularly the ever-increasing cost of life-saving medicines that is killing people both in the United States and abroad.
Karyn Wofford is a freelance writer and a USA-based Global Advocate with T1International, a non-profit advocacy group led by people with and impacted by type 1 diabetes. Her story has been told in the Wall Street Journal, among other major publications. You can follow her on Twitter @KarynWofford
Arshia Wajid, MPH, MBA, is the founder of American Muslim Health Professionals, which on April 20th is co-hosting with the Harvard Medical School and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health a National Public Health Conference on eliminating health disparities. (More information on the conference is available here.) Ms. Wajid is the latest in our series of inspiring faith community advocates for healthcare participating in our Five Question Interview:
A trillion-dollar industry is in trouble. And it is fighting back. But all of us who are outraged by skyrocketing drug prices, including the lawmakers who are looking to respond to the crisis, cannot afford to be fooled by the Big Pharma shell game.
Jennifer Seifert, the latest healthcare provider and advocate to participate in our “Five Questions” interview, is a pharmacist and executive director of the Charitable Pharmacy of Central Ohio. The pharmacy began as a joint project of the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church and Access Health Columbus, now the Healthcare Collaborative of Greater Columbus.
The architect of the Canadian single-payer system, Saskatchewan premier Tommy Douglas, has been named “Greatest Canadian” for his achievement. But the drive to ensure care for all did not originate in his political life. It was developed in the role that Tommy Douglas reluctantly left after he was persuaded to run for office: Baptist minister.
This week, as the most comprehensive and detailed version of Medicare for All legislation is being unveiled in the U.S. Congress, Faith in Healthcare conducted an informal survey of major U.S. faith groups. We break down which have explicitly endorsed a single-payer, Medicare for All system for the U.S., and which have made a less specific call for universal healthcare.
A frightening diagnosis with breast cancer in 2007 led Lisa Hayes to leave behind her legal career and devote herself to serving others facing health crises. Hayes is the director of women’s health services at Gennesaret Free Clinics in Indianapolis and executive director of the R.E.D. (Reaching to End Disparities) Alliance, which works to reduce breast cancer late-stage diagnosis and death rates for African American women.
Hayes is the latest in a series of faith-based healthcare advocates and providers participating in our Faith in Healthcare "Five Questions" interview.
Plans to fix our prescription drug pricing crisis can be confusing. The confusion is caused in part by obscure issues of patent law and government regulation, and in part by pharmaceutical corporations intentionally keeping their costs and pricing processes secretive. So Faith in Healthcare's editor, who has written extensively on drug pricing reforms, cuts through the fog to provide you with this quick ranking of the major proposals to lower drug prices.
Remember when the Affordable Care Act was under attack in Congress? Nathan Bennett of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism helped coordinate the passionate interfaith defense of the program that provides and protects healthcare for millions.
The Trump plans to impose work requirements on Americans who count on Medicaid for their healthcare are based on a foundation of lies, and will cause suffering and even death--unless we can stop them.
Mehreen Karim is an educator with HEART Women and Girls, which promotes sexual health and sexual violence awareness in Muslim communities. She is the former Digital Communications Specialist for NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, and is obtaining her Masters in Public Health at New York University.
Note: A version of this article, also written by our editor, is published online by our friends at Sojourners. To see that version of the article, click here.
Dr. Will Cooke practices medicine in Austin, Indiana, a town of just 4,200 people located in a rural community about 40 miles north of Louisville. The opioid addiction crisis hit the community hard, followed by worst outbreak of HIV ever chronicled in rural America.