The Buddha taught there are four requisites for harmonious life: food, shelter, clothing, and medicine or health care. The state of the health care system in the United States is an affront to Buddhist principles of compassion and loving kindness. Buddhist Peace Fellowship is deeply concerned that the health care system in the United States is built neither on compassion nor on loving kindness. As the health care crisis deepens, more of our sisters and brothers throughout the United States lack access to adequate and appropriate health care. We believe that appropriate health care should be determined by need, not by profit, or by how much an individual can pay.

The Buddhist Peace Fellowship: 

♦ Affirms that comprehensive health care is a basic human right in the United States
   and throughout the world;

♦ Urges that we consider systems in other industrialized countries
   as models for the United States;

♦ Advocates that members of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship support a just, compassionate,
  and comprehensive national system of universal health care based on the following principles:

• Universal access to quality care;
• Comprehensive health benefits;
• Availability of care from a variety of providers;
• Care provided in a variety of settings;
• System accountability to the public;
• Full health information to make wise decisions;
• A system based on need, not profit;
• A reimbursement system that is publicly funded, equitable and efficient.