[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 51 (Thursday, March 23, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E370-E371]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     AMERICAN HEALTH CARE PROPOSAL

                                  _____
                                 

                          HON. CHELLIE PINGREE

                                of maine

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 23, 2017

  Ms. PINGREE. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of my constituent, Jill Job 
Saxby, I'd like to include in the Record her proposal for evaluating 
the ethics of any health care plan that potentially risks access to 
care for millions of Americans. I submit that the American Health Care 
Act does not fulfill these considerations and I urge my colleagues to 
take seriously the ethical implications of their vote.

       Under this proposal, will more of the most vulnerable 
     Americans be able to access quality, affordable health care?
       Health care is a basic and universal human need, which, if 
     denied, harms persons and diminishes the community. The most 
     vulnerable are those with the least power, status and 
     resources in society. In the case of health care, the most 
     vulnerable are those who suffer poorer health and shorter 
     life expectancy because of poverty and social inequities that 
     create barriers to accessing quality medical care and all the 
     other contributors to good health (clean environment, healthy 
     food, paid sick leave, reliable child-care and 
     transportation). The most vulnerable would also include those 
     with pre-existing conditions and lack of access to preventive 
     care.
       The Golden Rule Test: Am I willing to trade places with 
     those whose lives will be most profoundly affected by this 
     proposal?
       The Golden Rule is found in all major world religions. It 
     rests on the moral assertions that: 1) every human life has 
     inherent worth and dignity and 2) because we are all in 
     relationship with one another, my actions (or inactions) 
     towards others have moral consequences for myself and for the 
     larger community.
       The Golden Rule requires us to respond to suffering not 
     merely with charity, but with justice. Charity is given by 
     those who can afford it, out of surplus. Justice requires 
     living in right-relationship with all persons, at all times. 
     A just proposal will decrease social inequities and assure a 
     single standard of care, with equal accessibility, to all 
     persons.
       Does this proposal treat health care as a fundamental human 
     need giving rise to a human right to care and alleviation of 
     suffering?
       Health care is a basic and universal human need. Meeting 
     that need is a precursor to a person's ability to exercise 
     and enjoy the inalienable rights that our nation has 
     recognized from the beginning: life, liberty and the pursuit 
     of happiness.
       There is a compelling ethical argument to be made that 
     health care, by its very nature, should not be treated as a 
     commodity to be bought and sold. We already recognize this in 
     some of our long-standing public policies: We do not allow 
     the purchase and sale of human organs for transplant. We have 
     strict rules governing human clinical trials. We provide 
     charity care. We restrict the freedom of sellers by 
     regulating providers' education and licensing. We protect 
     buyers with privacy laws. Such laws recognize that health 
     care intersects with a dimension of human existence that is 
     universally worthy of protection against the forces of the 
     free market.
       Therefore, we must ask: how does it address the downside of 
     free market forces, especially rising inequality? Who 
     benefits? Who loses? Does it prioritize profits (a market 
     good) or human health/alleviation of suffering (a common good 
     and a human right)?

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