Paul Gibbs
Most people who read this blog are probably aware that I have an identical twin brother, Patrick. Some will know that Patrick and I were both born with serious medical problems. By the time we were 5 years old, I had 9 major surgeries, and Patrick had 17. Obviously this placed a huge financial burden on my parents, even with ths insurance they had through my Dad's employment. Family was only able to do so much. Our church was only able or willing to do so much. An attempt to get help from charity failed when the money raised to help us was embezzled. It was a near impossible situation, and when it reached the point where Patrick was in serious danger of dying, some suggested my parents just accept that there was nothing they could do, and that after all, that still left one of us alive. Of course no parent would accept that, and ours didn't. The debt caused by all of these medical bills is the reason my Mother died poor 5 years ago.
Had my parents chosen to exercise the sort of "fiscal responsibility" that far right members of our legislature are advocating, they would have just let Patrick die. I realize that's an inflammatory analogy, and Healthy Utah opponents would argue that the two things are not comparable. They would say one falls under personal responsibility, and one doesn't. And I would reply that's a self-serving load of crap. We as a society do have a responsibility to each other. It is not morally acceptable to let people suffer or die because they're not out problem. Especially when there so clearly is something we can do about it. As LDS apostle Elder Jeffrey R. Holland so eloquently put it, "I may not be my brother's keeper, but I am my brother's brother."
In no way is it fiscally responsible to to turn down $258 million of our own tax money, or the 3,000 healthcare sector
jobs Healthy Utah will bring to our state. Yes, there will be costs to Utah beyond that. But they won't bankrupt or harm our state. Through wise financial management and prioritizing, we can afford them. And if we choose not to accept that responsibility, we're not choosing freedom or personal responsibility or anything lofty or noble like that. The only thing we're choosing is to apathetically shrug and say "It's not my problem." The rest is empty rhetoric and rationalization.
On of the legislature's most staunch opponents of Healthy Utah responded to those trying to appeal to his Christian values that Jesus said as much about justice as He did about mercy. Ignoring the fact that he and I apparently have been taught very different version of the scriptures despite belonging to the same church, there's the simple fact that it just doesn't apply to this situation in any logical fashion. It is not justice for people to suffer or die from treatable illnesses just because they are poor. That's not a consequence of their actions, it's simply an unfortunate circumstance. Justice and mercy both demand that we help those who cannot help themselves, and study after study after study has shown it's a matter of cannot not will not, so that kind of flat-earth denial is not a reasonable argument.
After months of negotiation, Healthy Utah is ready to go at our upcoming general legislative session. Any "alternative plan" by members of our legislature (which would almost certainly cover fewer people) would take us back to square one in negotiations with the federal government, and would make people who need healthcare now go without it. And, because of the supreme court decision, this comes down to our state exercising its freedom to make a choice, through our elected representatives. While we have the right to make either choice, there is still a right choice and a wrong choice. We can choose both just and mercy, or we can choose to walk away and let others deal with it. But to pretend those are not the only two choices is absurd and wrong. We've put off our responsibility long enough.
Had my parents chosen to exercise the sort of "fiscal responsibility" that far right members of our legislature are advocating, they would have just let Patrick die. I realize that's an inflammatory analogy, and Healthy Utah opponents would argue that the two things are not comparable. They would say one falls under personal responsibility, and one doesn't. And I would reply that's a self-serving load of crap. We as a society do have a responsibility to each other. It is not morally acceptable to let people suffer or die because they're not out problem. Especially when there so clearly is something we can do about it. As LDS apostle Elder Jeffrey R. Holland so eloquently put it, "I may not be my brother's keeper, but I am my brother's brother."
In no way is it fiscally responsible to to turn down $258 million of our own tax money, or the 3,000 healthcare sector
jobs Healthy Utah will bring to our state. Yes, there will be costs to Utah beyond that. But they won't bankrupt or harm our state. Through wise financial management and prioritizing, we can afford them. And if we choose not to accept that responsibility, we're not choosing freedom or personal responsibility or anything lofty or noble like that. The only thing we're choosing is to apathetically shrug and say "It's not my problem." The rest is empty rhetoric and rationalization.
On of the legislature's most staunch opponents of Healthy Utah responded to those trying to appeal to his Christian values that Jesus said as much about justice as He did about mercy. Ignoring the fact that he and I apparently have been taught very different version of the scriptures despite belonging to the same church, there's the simple fact that it just doesn't apply to this situation in any logical fashion. It is not justice for people to suffer or die from treatable illnesses just because they are poor. That's not a consequence of their actions, it's simply an unfortunate circumstance. Justice and mercy both demand that we help those who cannot help themselves, and study after study after study has shown it's a matter of cannot not will not, so that kind of flat-earth denial is not a reasonable argument.
After months of negotiation, Healthy Utah is ready to go at our upcoming general legislative session. Any "alternative plan" by members of our legislature (which would almost certainly cover fewer people) would take us back to square one in negotiations with the federal government, and would make people who need healthcare now go without it. And, because of the supreme court decision, this comes down to our state exercising its freedom to make a choice, through our elected representatives. While we have the right to make either choice, there is still a right choice and a wrong choice. We can choose both just and mercy, or we can choose to walk away and let others deal with it. But to pretend those are not the only two choices is absurd and wrong. We've put off our responsibility long enough.
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