The recent murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City reveals a dark side to culture in the US. Many people are cheering, according to USA Today:
"The Midtown Manhattan killing tapped a groundswell of public anger over an industry the public often only knows through impersonal delays and denials to needed health care, said Wendell Potter, a former CIGNA executive who became a whistleblower against the health insurance industry.
"'I've been hearing for years now from people who have been so frustrated because of denials or delays of care, and this was an opportunity for people to vent and to take out their anger against someone who just became known to them all of a sudden,' Potter said."
Such threats against health insurance company executives are common in the US according to some reports. Why isn't there similar anger against bureaucrats in socialists countries where waiting periods for treatment and denials are far greater?
If medical care in the US is so awful, why do people from other countries fly here for treatment? Google for "medical tourism." Millions of Canadians and Europeans travel to the US for medical care their nation health insurance plans refuse to pay. No Americans go to Canada or Europe for medical care.
Canadians are very happy with their socialist system of healthcare. The closest thing Brits have to a religion is its National Health Service. Yes, it has problems. No one suggests changing it and the only proposed solutions that people will approve is more tax infusions to keep it alive. With longer waiting periods and higher denial rates, why aren't Canadians and Brits murdering the bureaucrats who run their systems?
Part of the answer lies in idolatry of government. Airport security offers an example. After the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, people demanded the federal government take control of airport security from private contractors and the TSA was born. By most standards TSA does a worse job than the private contractors had done. Yet, no one wants to privatize airport security. People are content with bad service as long as the government provides it. There appear to be no threats to the heads of the TSA or the Center for Medicare and Medicaid.
What seems to irritate people the most is the assumption that greed drives CEOs; they want to increase their already obscene salaries by denying care to the less fortunate. In popular thinking, government bureaucrats can't be greedy because they don't make as much money as CEOs. But that contradicts the Bible, which tells us that "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God," (Romans 3:23). The lust for power can be just as destructive as greed. Besides, a revolving door exists between federal agencies and private healthcare providers that is very lucrative.
And it violates the Biblical another Biblical injunction: "Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation," ( Psalm 146:3). When David wrote that, princes were government officials. The prophets commonly condemn the princes (the government) for murdering and stealing from the people. God warned Israel in I Samuel 8 that kings and princes would oppress them, but Israel never repented of its rebellion against God. Ungodly people have an almost idolatrous attitude toward government and will put up with enormous abuse from it while hating lesser abuses by private individuals. The atheist David Hume was wiser than many Christians when he wrote that we should consider all politicians and bureaucrats to be knaves and give them the appropriate power.
The anger of many Americans at healthcare insurance uncovers another sin, covetousness. The tenth commandment reads, "You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s,” (Exodus 20:17). Yet, American demand that insurance companies pay for any and all medical expenses. In Canada and the European Union, they demand the government pay.
But don't we pay insurance premiums for that reason? Insurance is an agreement among all parties to pay for limited amounts for random disasters that happen to a member of the group in exchange for a premium. Insurance is a great idea that made settling this country possible. Few Spanish citizens migrated to the Spanish colonies because of the lack of insurance, which made migration to the English colonies possible. However, the payout of all insurance was limited and risky adventures or people were denied coverage. That's just common sense.
The same should be true for insurance to cover medical expenses. No matter how large the group, coverage has to be limited to protect the group from bankruptcy. And that was true of the first medical insurance plans developed in the 1930s. Coverage was limited to hospital stays of a certain length for specific illnesses.
Today, people demand insurance companies have no limits on what they cover or how much they pay in return for a limited premium. That attitude is covetousness, demanding the property of one's neighbor. Obviously. Many people encounter medical bills they can't pay. Those should seek the charity of the wealthy and be grateful for it. Instead, they demand payment from the insurance company or the government.
The majority in the US are in rebellion against God, as Paul described in Romans chapter one. Without a revival, we should expect increased idolatry of the state and covetousness.
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