RESUMO
Many Catholic leaders supported passage of legislation designed to achieve the humanitarian goal of universal or near-universal health coverage. These leaders could not imagine that the resulting law would lead to a severe assault on the practice of Christ-centered medicine. The legislative focus now is on conscience protection and making the Hyde Amendment permanent. But the real change that is needed is a culture that values life and puts doctors and patients, not secular bureaucracies, at the center of healthcare decisions. Many new proposals are being offered with the shared goals of expanding access to affordable health coverage, allowing people to make their own choices without oppressive government mandates, helping the most vulnerable, and protecting the right of citizens and medical professionals to live and work according to their religious values and principles.
RESUMO
The health sector in the US is almost equally divided between public and private sector programmes in terms of spending, and both sectors are facing significant pressures for change. This paper provides an overview of the sectors today and the populations they serve, explores the challenges they are experiencing, and identifies options for changes that move toward a more consumer-focused system that responds to the discipline of the marketplace rather than to bureaucratic rules and regulations. The changes we explore can not only help establish foundations for the US to embrace and facilitate the great progress in medicine that will certainly come over the next decade and beyond, but may also provide ideas for other nations facing similar challenges with their own healthcare systems.
