Catholic or not, I think most people are aware of the scandals that have been parading their parish's. But this reporting on NPR made me very proud of the stance that the Catholic Bishops have had toward the debate on health care.
Basically, The Catholic Bishops Conference (CBC) has been a staunch supporter of health care reform. And not just recently, but for decades. NPR stated that they are one of the strongest supporters. The CBC has stated that universal access to health care is "a basic human right." They have been working diligently to get this bill moved forward and enacted.
However, there is something that the Catholic church is vehemently against. Abortion. There is an amendment called the Hyde Amendment that came about in response to Roe v. Wade. The Hyde Amendment bans federal funding for abortions. So what did the Catholic Bishops do? They stated that they would not support any health care reform bill unless it specifically upheld the Hyde Amendment. Not only that, but they took it a step farther. In the House Bill that was passed on Saturday, not only public insurance plans, but private insurance plans cannot get funding for abortions if they receive government subsidies.
So a democratically elected Congress passed a health care bill that bans federal funding for abortions. All because the Catholic Bishops are brave enough to do two things. One, publicly declare that heath care is a right; and two, continue to stand against abortion. I wish that more Christian denominations were doing what the Catholic Bishops Conference is doing.
3 comments:
Awesome!!
Naomi,
Read the bill:
21 MINIMUM BENEFITS PACKAGE.—
22 (1) PROHIBITION OF REQUIRED COVERAGE.—
23 The Health Benefits Advisory Committee may not
24 recommend under section 223(b), and the Secretary
25 may not adopt in standards under section 224(b),
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1 the services described in paragraph (4)(A) or (4)(B)
2 as part of the essential benefits package and the
3 Commissioner may not require such services for
4 qualified health benefits plans to participate in the
5 Health Insurance Exchange.
6 (2) VOLUNTARY CHOICE OF COVERAGE BY
7 PLAN.—In the case of a qualified health benefits
8 plan, the plan is not required (or prohibited) under
9 this Act from providing coverage of services de10
scribed in paragraph (4)(A) or (4)(B) and the
11 QHBP offering entity shall determine whether such
12 coverage is provided.
13 (3) ABORTION SERVICES.—
and
(B) ABORTIONS FOR WHICH PUBLIC FUND23
ING IS ALLOWED.—The services described in
24 this subparagraph are abortions for which the
25 expenditure of Federal funds appropriated for
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1 the Department of Health and Human Services
2 is permitted, based on the law as in effect as
3 of the date that is 6 months before the begin4
ning of the plan year involved.
Basically - minimum packages are not required to cover abortion, but they can. The Hyde Ammendment prohibits abortion funding in HHS (Health and Human Services) appropriations. Federal funs are used to support abortions all the time.
The arguement is not having access to health care - everyone in this country does. The arguement should center on one's ability to pay for their health care. Unfortunaly many do not see it that way.
Ben,
Since we disagree on a fundamental point on your argument, there is no point in debating. You think everybody has the access to healthcare. I do not. The emergency room is not the place where 40 million people should be receiving health care. However, this is not the place to discuss those things. I was simply excited that the Catholic Bishops were able to keep defending both aspects of human life, the unborn and the uninsured.
I guess you won't be as excited as I was the other day when the Morman church declared that discrimination towards gay/lesbians should not be tolerated....
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