The Amish and Healthcare Reform
Mr. Martin and other Old Order Mennonites say they don’t want charity. But they want bills that reflect the actual cost of care. The government allows hospitals to charge many times the actual cost of services in order to pay for updates to technology and services.
“I want to pay my bills,” Mr. Martin says. “I just want to pay bills that are reasonable and fair.”
So what do the Amish have to do with healthcare (insurance) reform? …
I did my residency training in Philadelphia. There is a large Amish population in Lancaster, PA which is a few hours due west of Philly. We had the privilege of treating the occasional Amish patient- a few had really bad injuries after falling from grain silos. I learned through this experience that the Amish do not have health insurance: they “self insure.” That is, the community chips in to pay for the health costs of any individual in need. Remarkable really. The few patients that I cared for had pretty significant injuries requiring complex surgery. This impressed me for at least 2 reasons: 1) this is a community with incredible foresight. The ability to plan for unforeseen accidents and save large sums accordingly is a testament to their virtue of frugality 2) the costs for these procedures was large. But they banded together as a community and decided that top notch medical care was a priority in their community- incidentally, the Amish do not universally eschew technology- they assess it on a case by case basis and decide whether it is consistent with their virtues.
So I was thinking on my drive home today: what would the new Senate health bill portend for the Amish? The bill would mandate that people purchase governement approved insurance or else face criminal penalties. Yes, that means fines, jail time etc. Will the Amish go to jail? Will some government thug come and take the thrifty, God fearing, hard working farmers away in cuffs when they don’t pony up for insurance?
If that happens, God help us all.
