Why Public Healthcare is a Christian Duty

As a Christian, you are probably suffering your own personal battle between what you perceive to be good and what you know to be evil. When it comes to the healthcare crisis in our country, you see both good and evil and, although you know that Jesus went around healing the sick, tending to the downtrodden, and urging His followers to do the same, there isn’t much you can do to ease a healthcare system that is so broken as to be beyond repair. Or is there? Is there something you can do to ease the suffering of the less fortunate, even though you, too, have limited funds and are not a healthcare professional? Perhaps you can do more than you realize!

What Did Jesus Say?

Actually, there are two very relevant passages here which should give you direction when it comes to making a difference in healthcare. The first Bible passage to meditate on is Matthew 10:8 where Jesus urges his followers to “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy (skin diseases), drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.” This passage is transcribed from the New International Version (NIV) but the meaning is clear. Jesus tasked His followers with healing the sick. No, you may not be a miracle worker, but modern medicine is!

The second passage to ponder is where He urges His followers to, also in the NIV translation, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” This calls to mind our modern age of digital communications where for the first time in history, this is made possible. Now then, putting those two passages together, you can easily see how you can accomplish both without being a doctor, nurse or even a miracle worker! As a Christian, you can help to heal the sick by giving them the information they need to take an active role in their own healthcare. No, it’s not a leap in logic if you think about how you can do just that.

The Science of Health Information Management

One of the major reasons why so many people are not able to get the healthcare they need is due to the high cost of that care. However, schools like the University of Cincinnati offer degrees in Health Information Management so that patients, providers and anyone involved in the care of those patients can quickly access pertinent information to offer better and faster outcomes. Aren’t digital communications one way to reach the entire world? Isn’t healthcare a Christian duty?

Schools that offer programs like the University of Cincinnati Online Health Information Management degree provide the means for Christians to reach millions of people to give them a way to be proactive in their own care program. This helps to reduce wait times in hospitals, doctors’ offices and clinics and also helps to keep costs lower. No, health information systems don’t spread the gospel message but what they can do, from a Christian perspective, is enable providers to treat more people at reduced costs which, in turn, should provide better outcomes in healthcare. Public healthcare is a Christian duty because Jesus, himself, tasked us with healing the sick. No matter what branch of medicine or health informatics you are in, as a Christian, you are fulfilling your duty in a way only possible with modern medicine and digital technology. And greater things will you also do….