After the failure of healthcare reform on the national level in the early '90s, it may seem impossible to effect real change in the way society responds to the needs of the poor and underinsured. Yet one man's life, message, and legacy can provide practical guidance.

The late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin was fascinated by the profound similarities between doctors and pastors, and he regularly recalled his own intention to become a physician until the call to the church supervened.

Undoubtedly, the organic links between scriptural imperatives and the vast institutional presence of the church in health delivery compelled his pastoral attention. In 1995, he addressed the Harvard Business School on the topic of "Making the Case for Not-for-Profit Health Care," a provocative title in this era of servile obeisance to market economics.

He quoted Pope John Paul II regarding "the idea that the entirety of social life is to be determined by market exchanges is to run 'the risk of idolatry of the market, an idolatry which ignores the existence of goods which by their nature are not and cannot be merely commodities.' " He went on to assert that healthcare delivery was, in fact, one of those goods.

Elsewhere, Bernardin insisted that "Health care is an essential safeguard of human life and dignity, and there is an obligation for society to ensure that every person be able to realize this right.

"The only way this obligation can be effectively met by society is for our nation to make universal health care coverage a reality. . . . If justice is a hallmark of our national community, then we must fulfill our obligations in justice to the poor and unserved first and not last."

After Bernardin's death in 1996, his call to action was taken up by supporters who hoped to make the cardinal's vision the law in his home state of Illinois. His wisdom has been recast into legislative language and proposed as a state constitutional amendment.

The so-called Bernardin Amendment, which would mandate the state to provide universal health care, has garnered overwhelming support in a plebiscite and polls held throughout the state. Currently before the Illinois legislature awaiting consideration, it has sparked interest in several other states and become part of the political culture in numerous state coalitions for health reform.

Could Bernardin's legacy—miraculously—become the answer to the panic and disarray characterizing the market-driven American health system today?