Healing Health Care: Recent Mennonite Statements on Health Care Access

Excerpts from Healthcare Access Statement, Mennonite Church USA (2005)

Because health is a gift from God and our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, we seek to be better stewards of our health. At the same time, because we are finite creatures and because we believe in the resurrection of the dead, we will accept limitations on medical intervention from the beginning through the end of life.

Because our life together in Christian community is a foretaste of the kingdom of God, we commit ourselves to work toward adequate access to healthcare for all our brothers and sisters, including our pastors, in Mennonite Church USA.

Because health and healing are part of God’s mission to redeem brokenness in the world, we will work with diligence as stewards of the gospel to provide better healthcare access for our neighbors.

Because the scriptural test of a just nation is how it treats its weakest members, we will be clear and consistent advocates to policy-makers on behalf of public health matters and access to healthcare for everyone.

Excerpts from Foundational Beliefs on Healthcare Access (2007)
Healthcare Access Public Policy Group, Mennonite Church USA

As an Anabaptist Christian community, we believe that a biblically-compatible healthcare system will:

I. Celebrate God’s generous provision of resources, assuring enough for everyone when shared equitably by all (Gen. 1–2; Lev. 25; Ps. 35:5–9; 2 Cor. 8–9).

Included in this basic principle of healthcare is the realization that:

1. provision of enough for all requires stewardship by all;
2. resources are limited and costs must be controlled;
3. limits on medical intervention should be accepted as intrinsic to our nature as finite creatures;
4. risks, costs, responsibility and limits must be shared by all;
5. greed and excessive profit are to be challenged;
6. decision-making about healthcare, ranging from individual procedures to public policy, is a shared task requiring discernment and humility.

II. Promote the flourishing (shalom) of the whole community, including each of its members (John 13:34–35; Acts 2–4; Rom. 12; 1 Cor. 12:12ff.).

Applied to healthcare at a national level, this principle necessitates:

1. access for all to quality care;
2. adequate funding of public health measures, preventative care, long-term care, mental health treatment, dental care and disease management;
3. government policies to assure access, quality and adequate funding;
4. moral and financial commitments to quality healthcare for the two-thirds world.

III. Protect the well-being of the weakest and most vulnerable members of society (Deut. 10:17–19; 24:17–22; Ps. 72; Isa. 1:16–17; Jer. 7:5–7; Matt. 25:31–46; Luke 1:46–55; 4:16–21).

In healthcare, this principle necessitates that:

1. the poor, working poor and others lacking political or economic power have ready access to quality healthcare;
2. the system is structured to protect the interests of all people without power, such as children, people with disabilities or mental illness, the elderly and immigrants.

IV. Cultivate stewardship of God’s resources (Gen. 1:26–31; 2:15ff.; Lev. 25; Deut. 15; Ps. 8; Matt. 6:19–21; 20:1–16; 25:14–30; Mark 12:41–44; 14:3–9; Luke 10:29–37; 1 Tim. 6:17–19).

In healthcare, this requires that:

1. everyone is challenged to be a caretaker of health;
2. models of accountability and reconciliation . . . will guide situations where people have been genuinely harmed;
3. caretaking and generosity are essential as government, employers, insurance groups, pharmaceutical and medical supply manufacturers and healthcare providers balance their “bottom line” with the need for access to healthcare;
4. local communities of faith remain engaged with issues of health and healthcare access.