Kennedy and Health Care

“We know the future will outlast all of us, but I believe that all of us will live on in the future we make.  I have lived a blessed time.” 

Those are some of the many lines we’ll be hearing over the next number of days voiced by Ted Kennedy, who died late last night from brain cancer.  Many will also point out he died right in the middle of a heated time in the debate over the cause that he called the greatest of his life, reforming health care to make it accessible and affordable for everyone.

Kennedy inspires me to work for just causes, but also to do it in a way that respects and ennobles those with whom I disagree.

Regarding health care, here are three items you may have interest in looking into:

Bill Moyers Journal:  Last Friday and this Friday (9pm, WCET) Bill Moyers is showing films that highlight the health care crisis.  Last week was an excellent film called “Critical Condition,” which told the stories of three individuals and their families struggling with illness without health insurance.  It can be watch online.  This Friday he will feature “Money-Driven Medicine,” a look at how profit motives can inject harm in the health care system.

Sojourners Guide to the Health Care Reform Debate:  This is a helpful eight page summary of the Health Care debate and offers a summary of where things are at now, as well as a positive vision for where things could head.  It leads by offering a biblical mandate for health care and ends with suggestions for how to act for change.

Senator Sherrod Brown in Cincinnati for Health Care forum:  I just caught this in the Enquirer recently, but Senator Brown will be at UC from 10:30am-Noon on Tuesday, Sept 1, to hold a health care forum, open to the public.

Another quote from Kennedy: “For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.”