The Pragmatic Beauty Of A Rational Mind

I have been most fortunate to find a wide circle of brilliant minds, excellent writers, quirky personalities and deep, wide, wonderful hearts through my years in the blogosphere. Surprisingly, several have become close, cherished friends. We swap personal stuff, chat on the phone, worry about one another, trade emails on the daily business of our ordinary lives. It’s been an unexpected treat.

Gordon is one of those long time, dear friends. He sent me a bit of his sharp mind today, with blessings to share it with you. He strikes a familiar Haven theme of independence from government interference on a topical matter currently lighting up the fire of our perpetually outraged internet community.

I think my friend hits the proverbial crooked nail dead to rights. Enjoy.

Parsing Logic

Imagine if every halal and kosher meat market were required to stock bacon for any customer who requested it. And not only would they have to contaminate their facility with a product that they abhor, they would have to provide the bacon for free to all customers who want it.

With all of the yelling and screaming about HHS Secretary Sebelius deciding to order all insurance plans to provide birth control and abortifacients without cost to their insured, the focus has been on Roman Catholic institutions. The American bishops are rather upset about this idea, and enough heat was generated that the Obama administration proposed a minor modification to the rule. The modification would be that the insurance providers would supply the products for free, and the religious groups would not be specifically billed for these products. This, of course, is nonsense, because the insurance company would simply increase the overall cost to the religious institution. They’re paying either way.

It’s also important to note that the modification is only a proposal. Sebelius’ rule is scheduled to go into effect; the modification is only a proposal, and a temporary one at that. It would expire after a year, presumably after the uproar had died down.

But I can understand the outrage among the bishops. Here they’ve been, for the most part, good liberal lefties, supportive of President Obama and other progressives. How can he be so insensitive to their needs? Catholic healthcare is a damn big business, and they thought they were buying indulgences from such rules. They should have recognized that one cannot appease such a beast; their experience with Catholic Charities having to get out of the adoption business because of requirements to allow adoption by gay couples should have informed them.

But there is a way for Catholic institutions to continue performing their services, without having to compromise their principles. They can simply refuse any government funding.

In the 1860′s, C.F.W. Walther was head of the Missouri Synod Lutherans. They were a group that had emigrated from Germany in main part to avoid government control over their doctrine (which tends to be much more conservative than mainstream Lutheran doctrine). Walther made it very clear that the only way for his church to avoid government control was to disassociate itself from the government utterly and completely. If one doesn’t want the prince to tell a church what to do, don’t take any of the prince’s money.

It would seem to be a radical notion for a major healthcare system to refuse government money. Medicare and Medicaid are big streams of income for any hospital. But 50 years ago, there was no federal medical system, and Catholic hospitals got along just fine. Like other religiously-run institutions, a lot of the care was provided as charity, and the rest was a combination of fee-for-service and private insurance.

It would be a wrenching change, but it’s one that could be done. Each archdiocese could set up its own taskforce on how to implement the change, with some cross-fertilization of ideas. The faithful might have to pony up more, but I suspect they would rally behind such an idea. And imagine the savings in administrative costs if the entire government billing and reimbursement system within the hospital was eliminated. As it is, Medicare and Medicaid are thoroughly subsidized by other patients, because rembursements have been cut to the bone to keep costs down.

Imagine how talented, dedicated doctors and nurses would flock to such institutions. Once again, they could provide the standard of care they feel is appropriate, instead of having to adhere to the rules of the bureaucracy. No death panels in these hospitals!

What’s more, the principle could be extended to other Catholic aid operations. The overarching group, Catholic Charities, is so much an arm of the government now that the change would be even more severe than in health care, but the creeping government control of the operations would be reversed. Each archdiocese could run their groups as their conscience dictated, rather than dancing to the tune of federal rules and regulations.

It can be done. A private university in Michigan, Hillsdale College, accepts no federal aid of any kind. They do not have to meet any affirmative action requirements. They do provide their own financial aid packages, as well as payment plans. They also work hard to keep costs low, and they succeed. They are always ranked as one of the best values in private education.

Governments always seek to extend their control. The best way to avoid that is simply to reject the money, and experience the freedom.