Article/Column

Opening America's heart to understanding

by Congressman Elijah E. Cummings

A fundamental question underlying America's ongoing healthcare debate must once again be advanced to center stage.  "Can we, as citizens of a great nation, fail to care for those in need and still retain our self-respect?"

I believe that the answer, for most Americans, is clear.  We share a unifying moral vision - without regard to which of the world's great faith and ethical traditions has guided us from our childhood days.

Throughout our lives, we have been admonished to care for the poor, the downtrodden, and all others who are in need.  As a result, we are guided by a moral imperative that has become so deeply ingrained in humanity over the millennia that, more than any other factor, it has come to define what it means to be "human."

This vision of who we are as human beings has elevated the people of our time from the heartless struggles of prehistory.  It is this same sense of our shared humanity that now offers care to injured enemy soldiers, condemned criminals and the innocent children of strangers alike.

After months of national debate about healthcare reform, we have been thoroughly educated about the widespread – and preventable - suffering that plagues men, women and children in our own country.  As confirmed by our nation's Institute of Medicine, we know that at least 18,000 Americans die every year because they lack the affordable health insurance that could have allowed them to survive.

Now, research by Harvard University that was released earlier this month asserts that the national death toll from lack of insurance is even more appalling – perhaps as high as 45,000 annually.

When we look deeply into our hearts, we know that even one preventable death would be unacceptable.  However, the reality that we must overcome is far worse.

This is especially true for Americans of Color.  According to new research by Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland, the disproportionate number of Americans of Color who died before their time between 2003 and 2006 cost the U.S. economy $229 billion.

As Dr. Thomas A. LaVeist, Director of the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions and an author of the report, observed, "If the country is serious about reforming health care, policymakers need to find ways to erase these inequalities."

Those of us who have been fighting for better healthcare for years would fully agree.  Nevertheless, we can be heartened that healthcare leaders within the Obama Administration have taken note.

"The statistics are just stunning and shocking," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently observed.  "There is no question that reducing the health disparities can save incredible amounts of money."

Even as we focus on the Secretary's economic insight, however, we must not lose sight of her more compelling point.  "More importantly," the Secretary asserted, "[expanded access to affordable care] saves lives and it makes us a healthier and more prosperous nation."

Hers are the moral priorities of a civilized society.  Within Baltimore's inner city, I see neighbors every day who are walking around with cancer.  Far too often, they must choose between feeding their families and the treatment they need.

A central driving force in my adult life has been to give them a public voice.

As a society that has been called by history and our own morality to a higher standard, we cannot allow this suffering in our midst to become lost in a blizzard of statistics and competing claims.

President Obama emphasized this reality recently when he addressed a Joint Session of the Senate and House.  He spoke to the economic necessity that is driving healthcare reform – while he also called upon our nation's moral sensibilities.

As our President observed, any of us could lose our health insurance at any time.  Then, we might fall into a deadly trap, unable to replace our prior coverage because of some "pre-existing condition."

For our nation – as for each of us as individuals - indifference to so much needless suffering is morally unacceptable.  President Obama built upon this more unifying national vision of our shared humanity again last week in his College Park, Maryland speech.

"It's about what kind of country you want to be," he observed, capturing the core issue of this difficult national healthcare debate. 

As a great nation, we must have the courage and moral integrity to confront and overcome harsh realities.  Tens of thousands of Americans are dying needlessly every year.  Millions more are suffering because we have failed to live up to our most fundamental calling as human beings.

We cannot allow the voices of those who are suffering and in need to be drowned out in the rancor and noise of our public healthcare debate.  We cannot allow them to be made invisible.

They must not be allowed to die in silence.  All of us deserve to live out the full measure of our days.

This moral calling is at the core of what living in America should mean.

I have not lost faith that, ultimately, we Americans will make a principled decision about healthcare reform. Yet, to achieve this victory, our arguments for reform must touch Americans' hearts, as well as our intellect.

As India's great liberator, Gandhi, once observed:

"I have come to this fundamental conclusion that if you want something really important to be done, you must not merely satisfy reason, you [also] must move the heart. The appeal of reason is more to the head, but the penetration of the heart comes from suffering."

"It opens up the inner understanding . . . ."

- The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings represents the 7th Congressional District of Maryland in the United States House of Representatives.