Why are faith communities actively engaged in seeking healthcare expansion? Our values of dignity and healing for every single person transcend any other partisan affiliation. People of faith see themselves reflected, at least potentially, in every other person – a reflection of that which faith considers divine or the work of the Divine.
Below is a collection of various articles and research that document healthcare issues and faithful responses.
- An analysis of talking points against expansion – Health News Florida. “House Packet on Medicaid Called Misleading” WUSF. 2015.04.29
- Difference in language radically changes opinion – Politifact. “What Polls Say About Medicaid Expansion in Florida” Tampa Bay Times. 2015.04.20
- “state’s Medicaid program, which now sets an annual income eligibility ceiling of roughly $6,930 for a family of three and denies any assistance to individuals and families without dependent children, regardless of how low their income may be.” – Nick Madigan. “Florida’s working poor fall into Affordable Care Act ‘coverage gap’” Miami Herald. 2014.07.29
- Meredith Rutland. “Working poor mothers with young children a common demographic in Florida, analysis shows” Florida Times-Union. 2014.05.04
- “there are deliberate decisions by many governors to not expand Medicaid coverage for the poor in their states. Yet where is the outrage about that?” Maureen Fiedler. “Where is the Medicaid outrage?“ National Catholic Reporter. 2013.11.21
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David Denslow, Ph.D.. “Fiscal Impacts of Florida Not Participating in Medicaid Expansion”.Bureau of Economic and Business Research, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Florida. retrieved from web 2015.05.06 https://www.bebr.ufl.edu/articles/analysis-fiscal-impacts-florida-not-participating-medicaid-expansion
- Stan Dorn, Megan McGrath, John Holahan. “What Is the Result of States Not Expanding Medicaid?” Urban Institute, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. retreived from web 2015.05.06 http://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/reports/issue_briefs/2014/rwjf414946
- “Consider this: 30% of Florida households are walking a financial tightrope. They are working hard, but falling short of what they need to consistently cover the basic costs of living. Unable to save for the future, they are vulnerable to a single emergency that can push them into crisis and even poverty.” – Stephanie Hoopes Halpin, Ph.D. “ALICE Report” United Way of Florida.
- “If we step outside of ourselves, we will find poverty,” he said, repeating his call for Catholics to do more to seek out those on the fringes of society who need help the most,” he said from the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica,”Today, and it breaks my heart to say it, finding a homeless person who has died of cold, is not news. Today, the news is scandals, that is news, but the many children who don’t have food – that’s not news. This is grave. We can’t rest easy while things are this way.”The crowd, most of whom are already involved in charity work, interrupted him often with applause”We cannot become starched Christians, too polite, who speak of theology calmly over tea. We have to become courageous Christians and seek out those (who need help most),” he said.To laughter from the crowd, he described how he prays each day before an altar before going to bed.”Sometimes I doze off, the fatigue of the day makes you fall asleep, but he (God) understands,” he said.CRISIS OF VALUESFrancis, the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, said the world was going through not just an economic crisis but a crisis of values.”This is happening today. If investments in banks fall, it is a tragedy and people say ‘what are we going to do?’ but if people die of hunger, have nothing to eat or suffer from poor health, that’s nothing. This is our crisis today. A Church that is poor and for the poor has to fight this mentality,” he said. – Phillip Pullela. “Church must help the poorest, not dissect theology, pope says” Reuters. 2013.05.18
