ELCA denomination health plan director says troubling things
This news item came out from the ELCA NEWS SERVICE on October 19.
http://www.elca.org/ScriptLib/CO/ELCA_News/encArticleList.asp?article=3455
It describes some comments made by John Kapanke, president of the Lutheran denominational board of pensions. The press release started by saying "the church may not be able to grow unless its professional leaders embrace a stronger health and wellness discipline." He was quoted as saying that "a fairly low percentage" of the church's professional leaders actually live healthy lives. "We must change our ways to keep this church viable, " he went on to say. He went on to discuss how a relatively small percentage of people (almost all ordained pastors) in the health plan accounted for the largest share of claim, and that the people covered by the health plan aren't making progress with their personal health.
He said one thing that makes a lot of sense, and that is that church leaders are in a position to set an example of healthy living for others, and have that responsibility. Amen. Amen.
The rest of the impact of the press release I found troubling, on many levels. Please indulge a rant.
(1) Christ's church has *always* been one generation from extinction. There are lots of forces pushing for the church's extinction. Poor health of leaders is surely one factor, but there are many other, stronger and more malevolent factors. Paul was tortured and malnourished. Luther died relatively young of manageable disease . H. M. Muhlenberg seems (from his journals) to have been an angry and suffering man at the end of his life. Do we REALLY think that high cholesterol and a sedentary lifestyle among pastors is going to bring down the church?
(2) Yes, health insurance rates are spiraling outrageously. Do we really think this is just a problem for pastors and church treasurers? People sitting in the pews in the church where I'm serving as intern have seen THEIR jobs outsourced to India, China, and other places where health care costs aren't as high. Now they're either drawing down their savings to pay health insurance, or they're using public hospitals. Other enterprises have struggled with this issue for years too. Companies put in health clubs. They offer blood pressure clinics, they beg people to get in better shape, they put hand sanitizer in the bathrooms and lunchrooms, etc etc. None of this stuff makes any difference. The only thing that does help keep rates down is immoral and illegal: don't hire older or unhealthy people, and find excuses to fire them when they get old or sick.
(3) Exhorting people to better lifestyles privatizes and personalizes the issue of health, making the assumption that it is the interior experience of the pastor. But Jesus didn't see it that way at all! Do we have the imagination to see beyond today's model and make good health an issue of the whole commuinity?
(4) The HMO model was OK in its idealistic and collectivist early days, but when it was financialized (when it started to have to pay fees-for-service for everything) its costs started to spiral out of control.
(5) The indemnity model was OK when it was "major medical." My grandparents paid their doctors and druggists, and made insurance claims in the case where they had huge costs. This promoted a real covenant relationship with their health-care professionals. It also allowed the professionals to see patients, not mess around with computerized paperwork all the time.
(6) People think health care is an inalienable right, so the covenant relationship between doctors/druggists and their patients, and the role of the congregation in caring for ailing members, is greatly weakened.
(7) Can you imagine what church would be like if we had the information-processing burden of the health-care industry? We'd need to install card-swipes on the communion rail! Can we help our society imagine a more trusting way of thinking about health than what we have now?
I think the ELCA denominational authorities are in a very interesting position; they have a unique opportunity to model a good way to get out of the current health-care mess. But instead they're saying that health-insurance rates are going to crush the church!
I wish I could offer more answers; I can't. But I hope the despair over the current system can open us to imagining a better way of doing things.
http://www.elca.org/ScriptLib/CO/ELCA_News/encArticleList.asp?article=3455
It describes some comments made by John Kapanke, president of the Lutheran denominational board of pensions. The press release started by saying "the church may not be able to grow unless its professional leaders embrace a stronger health and wellness discipline." He was quoted as saying that "a fairly low percentage" of the church's professional leaders actually live healthy lives. "We must change our ways to keep this church viable, " he went on to say. He went on to discuss how a relatively small percentage of people (almost all ordained pastors) in the health plan accounted for the largest share of claim, and that the people covered by the health plan aren't making progress with their personal health.
He said one thing that makes a lot of sense, and that is that church leaders are in a position to set an example of healthy living for others, and have that responsibility. Amen. Amen.
The rest of the impact of the press release I found troubling, on many levels. Please indulge a rant.
(1) Christ's church has *always* been one generation from extinction. There are lots of forces pushing for the church's extinction. Poor health of leaders is surely one factor, but there are many other, stronger and more malevolent factors. Paul was tortured and malnourished. Luther died relatively young of manageable disease . H. M. Muhlenberg seems (from his journals) to have been an angry and suffering man at the end of his life. Do we REALLY think that high cholesterol and a sedentary lifestyle among pastors is going to bring down the church?
(2) Yes, health insurance rates are spiraling outrageously. Do we really think this is just a problem for pastors and church treasurers? People sitting in the pews in the church where I'm serving as intern have seen THEIR jobs outsourced to India, China, and other places where health care costs aren't as high. Now they're either drawing down their savings to pay health insurance, or they're using public hospitals. Other enterprises have struggled with this issue for years too. Companies put in health clubs. They offer blood pressure clinics, they beg people to get in better shape, they put hand sanitizer in the bathrooms and lunchrooms, etc etc. None of this stuff makes any difference. The only thing that does help keep rates down is immoral and illegal: don't hire older or unhealthy people, and find excuses to fire them when they get old or sick.
(3) Exhorting people to better lifestyles privatizes and personalizes the issue of health, making the assumption that it is the interior experience of the pastor. But Jesus didn't see it that way at all! Do we have the imagination to see beyond today's model and make good health an issue of the whole commuinity?
(4) The HMO model was OK in its idealistic and collectivist early days, but when it was financialized (when it started to have to pay fees-for-service for everything) its costs started to spiral out of control.
(5) The indemnity model was OK when it was "major medical." My grandparents paid their doctors and druggists, and made insurance claims in the case where they had huge costs. This promoted a real covenant relationship with their health-care professionals. It also allowed the professionals to see patients, not mess around with computerized paperwork all the time.
(6) People think health care is an inalienable right, so the covenant relationship between doctors/druggists and their patients, and the role of the congregation in caring for ailing members, is greatly weakened.
(7) Can you imagine what church would be like if we had the information-processing burden of the health-care industry? We'd need to install card-swipes on the communion rail! Can we help our society imagine a more trusting way of thinking about health than what we have now?
I think the ELCA denominational authorities are in a very interesting position; they have a unique opportunity to model a good way to get out of the current health-care mess. But instead they're saying that health-insurance rates are going to crush the church!
I wish I could offer more answers; I can't. But I hope the despair over the current system can open us to imagining a better way of doing things.
