This document discusses several topics related to healthcare and Catholic social teaching, including: 1) Access to healthcare as a social justice issue and the consequences of lack of access. 2) What the Catholic Church teaches about healthcare, including its view of healthcare as a basic human right. 3) The "consistent ethic of life" and how the right to life extends beyond birth to include access to healthcare.

1.  Justice & Rights
 Rights & Duties
 Liberty Rights & Claim Rights
 Rights in the Catholic tradition
“Human rights are the minimum conditions for
life in community.”
Rights are a reflection of human worth
 Immigration Rights & Borders

2. Passions can be helpful, but they can
also blind us. Can you determine what
sorts of things are behind the passions
vt you see on this video about a topic that
ordinarily tends to be pretty dry (health
insurance!)? And can you identify blind
spots on one or the other side (or both)
based upon your reading for Tuesday,
the video Sick Around America, and our
discussions about social & economic
injustice in general?

3.  discuss why access to medical care is a
significant issue for social justice (especially in
terms of ‘what’s up to you’ vs. ‘what’s not up to
you’), and
 consider the Catholic contribution to the
healthcare debate in this country.

4. “In the end, the kind of health care
we tolerate reflects the kind of
society we are or want to be. The
bedside reflects back to all of us
where our treasure lies.”
—Dr. Edmund Pelligrino (XP, p. 139)

5.  Expands Medicaid coverage up to 133% of Poverty Line.
 Low-income individuals or families who make too much to qualify for Medicaid,
but who are up to 400% of Poverty Line will be eligible for government
subsidies to buy health insurance.
 Sets up health insurance exchanges in each state where individuals and small
businesses can compare policies and premium prices to purchase health
insurance.
 Will prevent insurers from denying coverage to people or for, in most cases,
charging more for pre-existing conditions (excluding tobacco use) but including
things such as being an abuse victim or being a woman.
 Young adults up to age 26 can be part of their parents’ plan.
 Companies employing 50 or more people have to offer health insurance to their
employees.
 Requires people not covered by Medicaid, Medicare, or other health insurance
to purchase health insurance (some exceptions).
 Should insure about 30 million more people, leaving about 20 million still
uninsured.
 Will either reduce the federal deficit or increase the federal deficit (!)—depends
whom you ask!

6.  More government
 Government owns most hospitals and employs
most physicians and nurses
• Eg., Great Britain
• In U.S., VA Hospitals work like this
 Government insures all people (‘single-payer’),
but most hospitals are privately owned and
physicians are in private practice
• Eg., Canada
Less government
• In U.S., Medicaid and Medicare have similarities to
this
 Government requires people to buy private
health insurance and helps cover the poor who
fall outside the market (Patient Protection &
Affordable Care Act)

7. How does American life expectancy
compare to other countries?
(Based on 2005 data reported in the 2007 United Nations Human Development Report)
A. Number 1
B. In the top 10
C. 29th place
Source: http://www.unnaturalcauses.org

8. ANSWER:
C. 29th place
At 77.9 years, we are tied with South Korea
and Denmark for 29th – 31st place, despite
being the second wealthiest country on the
planet (measured by per capita GDP).
Japan has the highest life expectancy at
82.3 years

9. How much does the U.S. spend
per person on health care?
A. Three quarters as much as the other
industrialized countries
C. The same as the other industrialized
countries
E. More than double other industrialized
countries

10. ANSWER:
C. More than double
We spent $6102 per person on medical
care in 2004 (estimates for 2007 are $7600).
That’s more than double the $2552 median
of the 30 OECD countries. Yet our health
outcomes are among the worst.

11. What is the greatest difference in life
expectancy observed between counties
in the U.S.?
A. 7 years
B. 15 years
C. 22 years
D. 25 years

12. ANSWER:
B. 15 Years
Populations in some wealthy communities
live on average well into their 80s, while
others in some inner city neighborhoods
and Native American reservations barely
scratch 60.

13. Between 1980 and 2000 the gap in life
expectancy between the most and least
deprived counties in the U.S:
A. Declined by 12%
B. Remained the same
C. Widened by 60%

14. ANSWER: C
Widened by 60%
As economic inequality grew after 1980,
so did the life expectancy gap between
the rich and the rest of us.
In contrast, a recent study (Krieger et al)
showed that premature death and infant
mortality gaps narrowed between 1966
and 1980.

15. African American males in Harlem have a
shorter life expectancy from age five than
which of the following groups?
A. Japanese
B. Bangladeshis
C. Cubans
D. Algerians living in Paris
E. All of the above

16. ANSWER:
E. All of the above
The biggest killers of African American males in
many poor, segregated urban neighborhoods are
not violence nor drugs nor AIDS, but heart
disease, stroke and other chronic diseases that cut
men down in middle age.

17. On average, which of the following
conditions is the strongest predictor of
your health?
A. Whether or not you smoke
B. What you eat
C. Whether or not you are wealthy
D. Whether or not you have health
insurance
E. How often you exercise

18. ANSWER:
C. Whether or not you are
wealthy
The wealthier you are, on average, the better
your health, from the bottom all the way to the top.
Genes, diet, exercise and other behaviors are
important. But a poor smoker still stands a greater
chance of getting ill than a rich smoker.

19. True or False: The gap between white and
African American infant mortality rates is
greater today than it was in 1950.
A. True
B. False

20. ANSWER:
A. True
The total number of infant deaths among both
African American and white Americans has fallen
since 1950. But today the infant mortality rate for
African Americans is two and a half times that of
white Americans, a greater gap than 60 years ago.
In fact, the rate among African American mothers
with college and professional degrees is higher
than among white mothers who haven’t finished
high school.

22. Children living in poverty are how many
times more likely to have poor health,
compared with children living in high-
income households?
A. 3 times
B. 4 times
C. 5 times
D. 7 times

23. ANSWER:
D. 7 Times
Children are most vulnerable.
Not only are they susceptible to sub-standard
housing, poor food, bad schools, unsafe streets
and chronic stress, but the impacts of childhood
poverty are cumulative, leading to a pile-up of risk
that influences adult health and can even affect the
next generation.

24. I. Access to Health Care as a Social Justice Issue
A. Consequences of not receiving health care
B. Predict effects on life, job, education, etc.
Pregnancy Old Age
& Early School Work &
Childbirth Childhood Death
II. Access to Health Care as a Catholic Issue
A. What does the Church teach about health care?
B. What’s the Catholic contribution to the healthcare debate?
What does the Church have to say to the rest of society?
C. The Consistent Ethic of Life

25. I. Trinity Health
A. Co-sponsored by the Sisters of the Holy Cross
B. Fourth largest Catholic healthcare system in the U.S.
C. St. Joe Regional Medical Center and the Sr. Maura
Brannick, CSC, Health Center
4. Patients ineligible for Medicaid or Medicare
5. Unable to obtain health insurance

26.  Respect
 We value and esteem every human person because each and
every one is created by God, in the image of God. Everyone,
regardless of title or position, income, education or status, race,
religion or ethnicity has a dignity that is sacred.
 Social Justice
 Social justice commits us to the common good so that all may have
their basic needs met. We recognize health and access to
healthcare as a basic human right and seek to provide and
advocate for it.
 Care of the Poor and Underserved
 We seek out the poor and underserved as a special focus of our
healthcare ministry. It is those without resources of their own who
need us most. We seek to care not only for their immediate needs
but also to change the structures that keep them in unhealthy
environments and inhumane conditions. Through our ministry of
health care and our persistent advocacy, we seek to serve the poor
and underserved of our communities.

28.  The right to life does not end at birth.
Access to health care as a pro-life issue
 You can’t welcome life into the world and then not
care about what happens to it after it gets here.
In short: “We must defend the right to life of the
weakest among us; we must also be supportive of
the quality of life of the powerless among us: the
old and the young, the hungry and the homeless,
the undocumented immigrant and the unemployed
worker, the sick, the disabled and the dying.”
(Cardinal Bernardin)