Health care for the universe?

I just watched Barack Obama's presentation/interview at Google, and I'm very impressed. There may be other decent candidates out there, but since our electoral system is screwed up, and Clinton and Giuliani aren't decent candidates, I think Obama has to be our next President. He seems to have a very reasonable head and empathetic heart.

He mentioned universal health care in his opening remarks. I chased that concept down some neural pathways. Before I get to the end of that rabbit trail, I'll note that I grew up "conservative" and often hear people say, "We don't want to end up like Canada," (a valid critique) or "I'm no Commie!" I have a historical mental stigma towards this kind of health care.

Now for the chasing. Who are the people who don't get adequate health care? Low- or no-income wage earners. Who gets the good stuff? People who are working at companies which are making enough money to pay good salaries and provide good health care. Who's scared of universal health care? The relatively rich. (Canada critique works here—people who are getting good care don't want that watered down.)

Now since my bias is that the only people who dislike universal health care are Christians, let's talk about what Jesus would do. He'd provide health care to the poorest and most disenfranchised. To my recollection, almost all of Jesus's healing signs were directed at the mostly down and out. Lazarus was possibly middle class. The centurion whose servant was healed was relatively well off. Jairus, the synagogue leader, was probably well off. Other than these, we're talking about Jesus providing health care to the lower classes.

Many of us don't have faith that Jesus is still bringing about his kingdom today, so we believe that doctors are the only way to go. But if we have the heart that Jesus did toward the disenfranchised, we must work toward providing quality health care to the poor. Maybe that's not the government's job? Fine. The church needs to step up.