Here's what King Benjamin had to say about it:
Mosiah 4:16-24
16 And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish.
17 Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just—
18 But I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this the same hath great cause to repent; and except he repenteth of that which he hath done he perisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God.
19 For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?
20 And behold, even at this time, ye have been calling on his name, and begging for a remission of your sins. And has he suffered that ye have begged in vain? Nay; he has poured out his Spirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy, and has caused that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance, so exceedingly great was your joy.
21 And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another.
22 And if ye judge the man who putteth up his petition to you for your substance that he perish not, and condemn him, how much more just will be your condemnation for withholding your substance, which doth not belong to you but to God, to whom also your life belongeth; and yet ye put up no petition, nor repent of the thing which thou hast done.
23 I say unto you, wo be unto that man, for his substance shall perish with him; and now, I say these things unto those who are rich as pertaining to the things of this world.
24 And again, I say unto the poor, ye who have not and yet have sufficient, that ye remain from day to day; I mean all you who deny the beggar, because ye have not; I would that ye say in your hearts that: I give not because I have not, but if I had I would give.
A man gave a talk in sacrament meeting on Sunday about patriotism and the glory of America. One line he said really stood out to me (this is a paraphrase): "Our government is trying to give people goods and services they haven't earned and don't deserve." It hit close to home, as both my daughters' medical expenses are currently paid by the state of Utah. If Claire hadn't been covered by Medicaid, we would have been crushed by the cost of three weeks in the intensive care unit. Would he say we don't deserve that, as my current employer doesn't offer health insurance, and our health plan has a $10,000 deductible? And our situation is much more favorable than that of most people. Since my dad is a doctor we can get prescriptions without having to pay for an office visit. He also gives us treatment for free when we're sick. If Claire is rubbing her ears I don't have to take her into the doctor. I just drop by Dad's office and he checks her out.
It might not be easy to stomach the idea of public health care, but it seems like its benefits far outweigh its costs, even if it means an increase in taxes across the board. My dad favors a public health care plan, and he estimates that every patient he sees who is on Medicaid
costs him $10.
What do you think? Does the country need a public health plan? Are uninsured and underinsured people undeserving of health care? Here are a couple of resources you might want to check out:
Wendell Potter talks about his role as an executive at Cigna health care.
3rd Nephi 6:12Alma 1:30One last resource
