LEV655 Effective medical care... not only involves the cost of a physician and hospitalization, but also requires a support system to alleviate the effects of illness on the peace of mind of the sick person and on the family unit. Modern medicine recognizes such a support system as an intrinsic part of communal health care and therefore expects home care and personal counseling to be funded either by the patient's health insurance or by the state. Such supports have always been part and parcel of the Jewish welfare system. The following ruling of Maimonides shows this support system to be legally binding and not just desirable. “It is a rabbinic commandment, incumbent on all, to visit the sick... and this may be done many times in the day... except in those cases where it is a bother to the sick. He who visits the sick removes part of his illness and eases his situation. He who does not visit the sick, it is as though he has shed blood [since visitors took care of all the patient’s needs, by refraining from such visits, one is harming the patient, perhaps even fatally.] Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Eivel, chapter 14, halakhot 1-5. See also Talmud Bavli, Nedarim 40a. Maimonides goes on to rule that visiting the sick is an act of righteousness performed with one's body, and thus without legal limit in its fulfillment (in contrast to monetary acts of righteousness, which the sages had limited to 20 percent of one's wealth). He sees the visiting of the sick as a fulfillment of the Torah’s commandment “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” [Leviticus 19:18]. This support system, like most moral and ethical injunctions in Judaism, is not left to the choice of the individual, to be observed or not according to his degree of religiosity.