Health Care, Stealing, and Eating

The blog about health care as a right or a need prompted some discussion, which is good! Part of that discussion turned to a comparison to the 'right to life' via food. We believe in rights to 'life, liberty, and property' in the U.S., so does the right to life mean that if we are poor and hungry that we have to right to take someone else's food? This question is akin to the health care question: if I am poor and sick, do I have the right to expect/demand that someone else pay for my health care?

The Bible sheds some light on this question in regard to food. It is of course one of the Ten Commandments: 'Thou shalt not steal.' Consider also Ephesians 4:28 which says, "Let him who steals steal no longer; but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need." This second passage goes a bit further than just the commandment because it recognizes that there are circumstances that might cause you to be tempted to steal if you have need. Proverbs 30:8-9 gets very explicit about this in this prayer: "Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion, lest I be full and deny Thee and say, 'Who is the Lord?' Or lest I be in want and steal, and profane the name of my God." This last verse gets to the heart of the matter: even in need, stealing is wrong. It profanes the name of God for his people to steal.

There are a number of other passages that discuss stealing and they all make it clear that stealing is wrong. There are also a number of others, such as Eph 4 above that indicate that it is also good for those with plenty to help those in need so they are not tempted to steal.

One of the things that was new about the Law of Moses when it appeared in the world was its recognition of property rights. This was not a common thing in the ancient world where strength was the primary 'right' to property. The prohibition of stealing is a recognition that the poor do not have a right to someone else's property just because they are poor. Yet, those with plenty still have a moral obligation to help the poor. A moral obligation of the prosperous to help the poor is NOT the same thing as the poor having a right to take the property of someone else (food in this case) just because they are poor.

Of course, as economists will eagerly tell you, property rights are crucial to growing economies. The recognition of property rights ends up feeding far more people than charity does.

The health care question can also be viewed as a matter of property rights: Do those without health care insurance have a right to take someone else's money to pay for their health care? When put this way the answer is pretty obvious: of course not. If it is wrong to steal when you are hungry then it also wrong to 'steal' to pay for your medical bills. This does not mean that the prosperous should not help. It does mean that there is no 'right' to health insurance. We do, of course, already choose to help with health care, in the form of Medicare (for retirees), Medicaid (for the poor), and various state programs (like Peach Care for children in Georgia). The current debate is largely over whether health care insurance should be available to everyone, even those who do not qualify for the current programs, including those that do not meet the current definitions for 'poor'.