Health Insurance Reform & The Bishops
Posted by Rebecca Teti in News on Monday, March 15, 2010 12:00 PM
When a group of “Catholic” hospitals endorsed the health care bill up for a vote this week, it made headlines.
The USCCB, however, while in favor of health insurance reform, strongly opposes the bill.
In a bulletin insert sent to dioceses around the country, the bishops urged Catholics to call their representatives and oppose this bill.
Bishop Loverde of Arlington is calling for days of prayer and fasting against passage of the bill.
The vehemence of the bishops’ opposition stems from three factors:
1. Federal funding of abortion
2. The absence of conscience protections
3. Inadequate coverage for immigrants
In a pre-release of his Wednesday column, Archbishop Chaput of Denver urges Catholics not to be misled.
Groups, trade associations and publications describing themselves as “Catholic” or “prolife” that endorse the Senate version — whatever their intentions — are doing a serious disservice to the nation and to the Church, undermining the witness of the Catholic community; and ensuring the failure of genuine, ethical health-care reform. By their public actions, they create confusion at exactly the moment Catholics need to think clearly about the remaining issues in the health-care debate. They also provide the illusion of moral cover for an unethical piece of legislation.
He points out this is not—or shouldn’t be—a partisan matter:
health-care reform debate has never been merely a matter of party politics. Nor is it now. Democratic Congressman Bart Stupak and a number of his Democratic colleagues have shown extraordinary character in pushing for good health-care reform while resisting attempts to poison it with abortion-related entitlements and other bad ideas that have nothing to do with real “health care.” Many Republicans share the goal of decent health-care reform, even if their solutions would differ dramatically. To put it another way, few persons seriously oppose making adequate health services available for all Americans. But God, or the devil, is in the details — and by that measure, the current Senate version of health-care reform is not merely defective, but also a dangerous mistake.
You can use the link to the bishops’ statement for information on how to contact your Congressmen.
And if you have time, the Archbold brothers are curious whether the bishops’ insert made it into your parish bulletin.
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