"The poor will always be with us"

Representative Roger Marshall (R, Kansas) created some controversy when discussing Medicaid expansion and coverage cutbacks in the proposed AHCA legislation.  His full quote:

Just like Jesus said, ‘The poor will always be with us. There is a group of people that just don’t want health care and aren’t going to take care of themselves....Just, like, homeless people. … I think just morally, spiritually, socially,  just don’t want health care. The Medicaid population, which is a free credit card, as a group, do probably the least preventive medicine and taking care of themselves and eating healthy and exercising. And I’m not judging, I’m just saying socially that’s where they are. So there’s a group of people that even with unlimited access to health care are only going to use the emergency room when their arm is chopped off or when their pneumonia is so bad they get brought the ER.

The idea that those who live in poverty are so either due to poor choices, objectionable lifestyles, or some other personal flaw is not uncommon:

• Trump's comments about a lack of incentives for the poor to work
• Rick Perry implication that income inequality is not an issue
• Hillary Clinton suggesting those on welfare were undignified and dependent

Stephen Pimpare summarizes the many reasons why this is not the case here, including:

• Poor employment opportunities (low wages or none at all)
• Poor educational opportunities
• Higher crime and  incarceration rates (more single parent homes)
• High day care costs
• Lack of upward mobility

Despite these differences (and reams of strong research to support it), the supposition that poverty is more of a choice than a circumstance perseveres.  This myth often leads those who hold this belief to the conclusion that in order to best help those in poverty, the government must withhold government assistance, not provide it.  This will, in theory, spur on those in poverty to work harder and pull themselves out of the situation.

This theory does not, however, align with the very passage that Rep. Marshall quotes.  When Jesus said "The poor will always be with you" he was referring to a well-known and well understood verse in Deuteronomy:

If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be ... For the poor you will always have with you in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’ (Deuteronomy 15:7-11)

See the difference?   God is telling his people:

Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’ 

While a case may be made for responsible government spending on social programs, the case for those who claim to follow God seems clear--to open your hand, and not to close it.