Is Spiritual Care Something People Want?

Every once in a while an article captures my imagination as to what being unlimited might mean in daily experience. When I start thinking about being unlimited, I am inspired to contemplate—What if?

Deepak Chopra spurred that feeling in me with an article in the Huffington Post about consciousness.

I connected with his idea that we are more unlimited than we may think, and that our scientific theories based on the laws of physics are proving to be less absolute in the age of quantum physics. Three major areas being challenged by quantum physicists are time, space, and matter. Applying these comparatively new ideas about time, space, and matter can affect our thoughts and practices about health.

The government through the new health care law is advocating a system of treatment based on a single medical-model approach to health. While many leading scientists and religious thinkers are indicating that there is more to man -- especially inner man -- than our mathematicians and scientists sometimes accept, these old theories about time, space, and matter are perpetuating our health practices (sometimes with little proof of effectiveness).

Health practices, described by Chopra as a surgery-and-drugs approach, are still considered the gold standard, for the most part based on this outdated information. Yet, according to a recent PEW study, when considering the 10 most common complementary and alternative medicine therapies of 2002, 43% of people used prayer as the leading health alternative. Another 24.4% prayed for others concerning health. An American family physicians survey found that 99% of these physicians are convinced that spiritual beliefs can heal, and 75% believe that prayers of others can help a patient recover.

Yet, prayer is not included in the present list of approved benefits in the newly created state health exchanges. If not corrected, those who choose to use spiritual care for health would need to buy mandatory health insurance not of their choosing.  Additionally they would pay for their preferred choice of spiritual care in addition to this mandatory health insurance.

A joint commission, which accredits clinics and hospitals in the United States, requires every institution to have a method in place to assess the spiritual concerns of every incoming patient.  Shouldn’t our legislators address spiritual care by adding it to the approved list for insurance coverage in our national health care system?

It’s what the public wants.

Don Ingwerson is the media and legislative advocate for Christian Science in Southern California