Towards a More Local, Christian-Based Health and Welfare System

Health and welfare, like education, should primarily be a local issue, characterized by application of Christian principles to address local citizen needs. We should not be looking to Washington, DC, or even Lansing, as the primary party addressing those needs. The Heritage Foundation has done a good job of documenting the failure of these programs in Washington, DC, especially since Johnson's "Great Society" program. The US healthcare system is in crisis because of the bad and unsustainable current system.  Our objections to the prevailing Washington approach to health and welfare does not represent a callous disregard of poor people as some assert, but a disagreement on principled and practical grounds, in favor of an alternative approach.

This alternative approach to health and welfare would incorporate the following Biblical principles, which are also preeminently practical as well:

1. The able-bodied should work, even if when they work they need charitable assistance on top of the remuneration of their labors. 

2. All have a duty to strive not to be a burden to others, even if some through no fault of their own should receive charitable assistance. 

3. Government spending should not be excessive, so as to be an undue burden to tax-paying families (forcing some into poverty) and to the private enterprise system. The private enterprise system should be kept robust so that most in society do not need to be part of government welfare programs. The problem today is not too little taxation of the top 50% of earners, but rather unsustainable and excessive growth of poorly conceived Federal Government programs.

4.  Families should be encouraged to take care of their own members when possible, so as not to become burdens on charitable assistance systems when possible. 

5. When health and welfare charitable assistance is needed, government should work through and with churches and charitable organizations to provide diaconal service that addresses not only the physical but also the spiritual needs of those needing assistance. Many problems are not merely physical in nature, but also spiritual, arising out of unhealthy addictions. 

The healthcare industry should be left in the hands of the private sector, churches and charitable organizations, and not taken over by government. Government's involvement should be limited to cases where charitable assistance is needed.

The county government level is the most logical place to center implementation of this local, Christian-based approach to health and welfare in the USA.  Current departments at the county government level are typically very entrenched agencies of the prevailing Washington, DC based approach, such that an alternative approach should be tried alongside the prevailing one by creation of a new separate department with staff committed to the alternative approach. The alternative can be started as a very modest pilot program, so as to be tested and compared with the prevailing secular humanist Washington, DC approach.  Those determined to be in need of charitable assistance by this alternative department should be asked to select a church or charitable organization to coordinate the diaconal services needed by the person, with the goal when possible of resolving issues, not keeping the person indefinitely on the public dole.