God and Medical Insurance

God and Medical Insurance  Mark 5:25

Mark 5:25 Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years.  5:26 She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse.  5:27 She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,  5:28 for she said, "If I but touch his clothes, I will be made  well."  5:29 Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.  5:30 Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?"  5:31 And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, 'Who touched me?'"  5:32 He looked all around to see who had done it.  5:33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in  fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the  whole truth.  5:34 He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease." 

            The woman in the story obviously did not have medical insurance.  She spent all that she had on doctors.  Most insurance plans have a limit on what you would pay per year for medical expenses. 

            The question we need to ask here is whether God wants us to spend all that we have on medical care in our efforts to regain our health.  Most of us don’t have to ask that question, because we have medical insurance.  And the common thinking is that, yes, God uses doctors, so we must make full avail of their services when we get sick.  It seems so obvious that it seems silly to even raise the question.

            But what if we don’t have medical insurance?  Does God have a different plan for us then?  In other words, if I have medical insurance, God expects me to go to the doctor and do whatever he/she recommends.  And if I don’t have medical insurance, what do I do then?  What if I just can’t afford what he recommends, whether it be surgery, or medicine, or even chemotherapy?  What does God expect me to do? 

            Is the woman in the story being commended for spending all she had on doctors?  Is she being held up as an example?  She came to Jesus and was healed.  Does God expect that we do all that we can first before He will heal us? 

            When we get sick, we are so used to going to the doctor.  And we are used to thinking that this is how God usually does things.  But if we don’t have medical insurance, we find that our medical treatment is often not there when we need it.  We don’t go to the doctor, because we just can’t afford it.  If this is God’s plan for our lives, why is it so darn expensive?