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My patient lies in a hospital bed, medically stable but unable to leave. Not because his severe UTI hasn't resolved; it has. He remains because losing SNAP benefits means returning to an empty apartment with no food.

This isn't health care; it's a symptom of a system that forces hospitals to become shelters and physicians to witness preventable suffering.

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Stories like his are multiplying in our current political environment, marked by historic government shutdowns and policies that experts predict will strip health care and social services from millions of vulnerable Americans. For doctors caring for these patients, each case inflicts moral injury — the profound psychological trauma that occurs when we perpetuate, witness or fail to prevent actions that violate our ethical beliefs.

But there is a powerful antidote: civic engagement through meaningful political involvement.

Calls for political involvement in health care often meet........

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