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Open Letter from faith leaders

An Open Letter from Faith Leaders of Cincinnati, Ohio

As federal health care reform legislation moves through its critical final stages, people of faith are uniting in unprecedented numbers in support of a health care future that includes everyone and works well for all of us.   We celebrate that we’ve made more progress than ever before in making reform a reality, but we also understand we aren’t there yet.  

As people of faith we want to assure that 1 in 6 children and non-elderly adults will no longer have to live sicker and risk dying younger because they cannot get needed health care.   Medical care will no longer be the cause of financial ruin for families, institutions, businesses, and governments.   All people must have the health care they need regardless of their income or the state of their health.  

The 45,000 annual deaths due to lack of needed health care, as noted in the recent Harvard report, are a profound reminder about how important it is to make comprehensive and compassionate reform happen this year.   This tragic and needless loss of human life is evidence that we as a nation have lost our moral courage and our faith-inspired call to care for everyone as a brother and sister.

In the coming weeks, we urge our elected officials to reclaim the highest ideals of public office, to support legislation that meets the needs of all the people who elected them.   We urge them to work with colleagues to move from partisan debate toward dialogue that is inspired by a shared public conscience that results in finding common ground for the common good.  

We understand that changing the way of politics in our country is not easy, but many of us in faith communities are trying nonetheless.   We know that social change happens over time as our hearts and minds are transformed and our sensitivities are moved from self-interest to the common good.   When the religious community is at its best, it is at the heart of such transformation.  

Toward that end, we have committed ourselves to promoting values that are important to us and to our health care reform discussions.   Inspired by shared values from our sacred texts, we will keep alive a vision where health, wholeness and human dignity are our priority.   We are measuring legislative proposals by their capacity to move us toward a health care future that is:

• Inclusive , offering everyone, regardless of circumstance, access to a solid system of health care.
• Accessible , eliminating all barriers to that system, thereby enabling all of us to participate in and contribute to the life we share together.    
• Affordable , ensuring that we create a modern system that uses our abundant health care resources effectively, efficiently, and equitably.
• Accountable , calling for shared responsibility across all sectors of our society, working in partnership on behalf of the common good.  

In the days ahead, we will watch the legislative deliberations and will continue to promote a health care vision affirms our sacred commitment to one another and shapes who we are as individuals and as a nation, both for now and for future generations.