Healthcare Access

July 23, 2009

Wondering how to connect your faith, the healthcare resolution passed at Mennonite Church USA Convention 2009 and the current health care debate in our country?

Here are facts: Healing, hope and health-care reform  by Tim Stoltzfus Jost

The legislative debate is at a critical point and the next few weeks will likely determine whether Congress will adopt reform legislation or not. Distribute the attached handout this Sunday (in your bulletin, in mailboxes or on a table) and encourage members of your congregation to handwrite a letter early this week to fax to their legislators. Handwritten letters 'rise to the top of the pile' but signed, printed letters are also acceptable. Children's pictures are often used during press conferences!

If you have Questions, Contact Susan Mark Landis at . Also, let Susan know about your follow-up (prayers, number of faxes to whom, etc). MCC Washington Office might make follow-up visits based on your faxes.

• Resolution (130k PDF)
• Letter from Jim Schrag (269k PDF) sent July 23, 2009 to the 100 representatives and 20 senators with highest concentrations of Mennonites
• Mennonite Church USA Healthcare Policy Principles (58k PDF)
• Congregational handout for July 26, 2009 (342k PDF)
• Sample letter (91k PDF) for July 26, 2009 congregational use (without comments (7k PDF)

Click here to find your elected officials.

Ideas for connecting God's call to care for the weakest and your congregational life:

• Pray. The last line of the resolution reads, "We will pray for healthcare access for Americans across our land, as well as those working on behalf of this issue." The sample letter states that the congregation prayed for the legislator by name.
      Prayer Written by Shannon Daley-Harris, M.Div. download now (205k PDF)
• Provide materials (letterhead, pens) for writing the letters and give people time to write while in your meeting house Sunday morning.
      Hints for Effective Letter Writing, Phone Calls, Faxes, E-mail and Visits (PDF)(scroll down to page 6)
• Dedicate the letters during the worship service, using Amos' compelling words in chapter 5

  23 "Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.
  24 "But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."

• Fax the letters to your Representative early this week. Senators perhaps won't vote until September, but your letters to them also matter.

• Continue to pray.
• Continue to contact your legislators.
• Write a letter to the editor of you local newspaper. Be sure to include the names of your congress people so their staff will find the letter when doing a search. ("I call on Representative soandso to work to pass legislation so children can grow up healthy and strong and become good citizens.")
• Continue education (see websites below). PICO has a toll-free hotline set up at (866) 279-5474, where you can hear a short update on the debate and then be connected to the offices of your senators and representatives.
• Set up appointments to visit your federal legislators (both representative and senators) while they are home for the August recess. Take a group and sing for the staff!
• Join others in your community in a public candlelight vigil.
• Subscribe to MennoLink peace news for updates
• Have a Mennonite Health Care Access Educator visit your congregation

• The most recent Census data found that 45.7 million Americans (15.3% of the population) were uninsured in 2007. While 10.4% of non-Hispanic whites were uninsured, 19.5% of African-Americans and 32.1% of Hispanics were uninsured. 79% of the uninsured were U.S. citizens. 30% of the uninsured were from households with less than $25,000 in annual income, and 32% from households with between $25,000 and $50,000 in annual income. See http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p60-235.pdf
• Many more people are currently uninsured than were uninsured at the time of this report because of the economic downturn. A study released this week concluded that 2.3 million Americans are losing health insurance every year, 44,230 per week. http://www.familiesusa.org/assets/pdfs/health-reform/clock-is-ticking.pdf
• Many Americans are losing health insurance because they are being laid off from their jobs. Others are losing insurance because they or their employers can no longer afford insurance premiums. Public programs cannot fill the gap. Medicare only covers the elderly and disabled, and Medicaid only very poor people who fit certain categories (pregnant women, children and their families, the elderly and disabled)
• Although the uninsured are not necessarily denied access to all health care, many studies have shown that the uninsured get less care and get it later when it is less effective. An Institute of Medicine study reviewing research on this topic concluded that 18,000 unnecessary deaths each year could be attributed to lack of health insurance, see http://www.iom.edu/?id=19175; http://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/63/122/America%27s%20Uninsured%206%20pager%20FINAL%20for%20web.pdf

As the Stewardship Agency of Mennonite Church USA we are deeply concerned about the impact that healthcare access has on our members and their communities.  The current debate and energy around healthcare reform demonstrates the degree to which this issue touches our lives.  While we choose not to support any specific legislation until more details can be analyzed, we are fully in support of the resolution acted upon by the recent Assembly in Columbus.  

http://www.mma-online.org
David Gautsche
SVP Products & Services
MMA Stewardship Solutions

• MCC: And many were healed: Health care access for all http://mcc.org/us/washington/life/health.html
• Native American Healthcare http://www.fcnl.org/issues/issue.php?issue_id=109
• Sojourners Health Care Toolkit http://www.sojo.net/action/alerts/Health_Care_Toolkit.pdf
• Friends Committee on National Legislation America's Affordable Health Choices Act http://edlabor.house.gov/blog/2009/07/americas-affordable-health-choices-act.shtml
• "Let Our Light Shine" Tool Kit released by Faithful Reform in Health Care.
• PICO is a national network of faith-based community organizations working to create innovative solutions to problems facing urban, suburban and rural communities. www.piconetwork.org

• The Kaiser Family Foundation, http://www.kff.org (information about health care and health care reform)
• The Commonwealth Fund, http://www.commonwealthfund.org (information about health care reform and international comparative health care information).
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, http://www.rwjf.org (health care research)