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Note #7627 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

A call to action
03137
March 12, 2003

A call to action

Religious leaders say health-care crisis has a moral dimension

by John Filiatreau

LOUISVILLE - Representatives of several major U.S. faith groups issued an
"open letter to the American people" on March 11 declaring that access to
adequate health care "is a basic right ... on par with other human rights
such as the rights to food and shelter."
	
The religious leaders said the 40 million Americans who have no health
insurance are casualties of "a crisis with moral and ethical dimensions" that
"must be an urgent national priority."
	
The signers included the Rev. Eileen W. Lindner, a Presbyterian minister who
is director of the National Council of Churches; Sayyid M. Syeed, president
of the Islamic Society of North America; Bishop Melvin Talbert of the United
Methodist Church; Nancy Wisdo, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops; the Rev. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention;
and Bishop George McKinney of the Church of God in Christ.
	
The letter was made public in connection with "Cover the Uninsured Week," a
public-awareness project of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that has 175
national sponsors and 700 local sponsors around the country. 
	
Organizers say more than 650 events - health fairs, health screenings,
rallies, church services - were scheduled in all 50 states and the District
of Columbia during the week of March 10 to March 16.
	
The signers of what was characterized as "an epistle to the American people"
said they hope the statement "will serve as a rallying point for people of
faith to pray, reflect, learn more about the problem, and add their voices to
those seeking solutions."
	
"Together we can, and must, do better for those in need, and for the
well-being of this land that we love," they said, urging Americans to make
universal health care "our moral legacy to the nation."
	
The federal government says 41 million Americans were without health care for
all of 2001. The Johnson Foundation estimates that more than 75 million,
including eight million children, lacked coverage for at least two months
during 2001 and 2002. 
	
An estimated 40 percent of African-Americans and nearly one-third of Hispanic
Americans are believed to lack coverage at any given time. According to the
Johnson Foundation, one of every three non-elderly Americans is without
health insurance today.
	
During another "Cover the Uninsured Week" event on March 11, a national
call-in press conference, Stuart Schear, who manages the campaign, said
Americans without health insurance "suffer terrible health consequences." He
said 18,000 die unnecessarily each year, while uninsured women are 50 percent
more likely to die of breast cancer, and uninsured men are 50 percent more
likely to die of colon cancer, than their counterparts with insurance
coverage.
	
He said it is a conviction shared by people "from every ethical tradition
(and) every religious tradition" that health care, including preventative
care, ought to be available to all Americans.
	
Lindner said the religious leaders had joined together "to begin to frame a
new national debate around health coverage."
	
Saperstein said it is shameful that "the wealthiest, most bountiful country
in the history of the world" should have "the highest percentage of people
uninsured."
	
Land said the letter is a multifaith effort to raise awareness and "a call to
action for people of faith ... to seek God's guidance together" for the sake
of Americans "who go without basic health care because they can't afford it."

	
Land pointed out that the health-insurance crisis doesn't affect only the
people who don't have coverage. These days, he said, "more people who are
insured feel a sense of crisis" because they are having to "pay more and more
for less and less." He said the expense of insuring the national staff of the
Southern Baptist Convention has risen more than 30 percent in the past year.
	
"We're calling the nation to be their brothers' keeper," he said, urging
people of faith to make access to health care a central issue in the 2004
elections.
	
For information about "Cover the Uninsured Week" events, and for resources
including interfaith liturgical materials, visit the Web site of The Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation: www.covertheuninsuredweek.org.

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