Avoid the hype; here is what the Bishops say about healthcare

Question and Answer on Health Care Reform
From the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Q. The Catholic bishops support health care reform. What are the bishops* key criteria for health care reform?
A. The bishops have been consistent advocates for comprehensive, life-affirming reform to the nation*s health care system. Health care reform needs to reflect basic moral principles. The bishops believeaccess to basic, quality health care is a universal human right not a privilege. In this light they offer four criteria to guide the process: a truly universal health policy that respects all human life and dignity, from conception to natural death; access for all with a special concern for the poor and inclusion of legal immigrants; pursuing the common good and preserving pluralism including freedom of conscience and variety of options; and restraining costs and applying them equitably across the spectrum of payers.Q. Why are the bishops so vocal about health care reform?
One out of three Americans under the age of 65 went without health insurance for some period of time during 2007 and 2008. Of these, four out of five were from working families. Sixty four percent of theuninsured are employed full time, year round. This state of affairs is unacceptable. In the Catholic tradition, health care is a basic human right not a privilege. It is a fundamental issue of human life anddignity. Q. Are the bishops trying to promote an anti-abortion agenda through health care reform?
No. The bishops will continue to fight against the evil of abortion by all means available. But they have not demanded that urgently needed health care reform become a vehicle for advancing the pro-life cause,and they likewise believe it should not be used to advance the cause of abortion. In this sense, the bishops have asked that health care reform be *abortion neutral,* this is, that existing laws and policies with regard to abortion and abortion funding be preserved, allowing healthcare reform to move forward and serve its legitimate goals. Q. Why are the bishops insistent that healthcare reform be *abortion neutral*?
Abortion advocacy groups are trying to use health care reform to advance their agenda, by having Congress or a federal official establish abortion as a *basic* or *essential* health benefit,guaranteeing *access* nationwide and requiring Americans to subsidize abortion with their tax dollars or insurance premiums. This would reverse a tradition of federal laws and policies that have barredfederal funding and promotion of abortion in all major health programs for over three decades (e.g., the Hyde amendment, 1976), and have respected the right of health care providers to decline involvement inabortion or abortion referrals. This agenda would also endanger or render irrelevant numerous local and state laws regulating abortion. The bishops cannot, in good conscience, let such an important and pressing issue as health care reform be hijacked by the abortion agenda. No health care reform plan should compel anyone to pay for the destruction of human life, whether through government funding or mandatory coverage of abortion. Any such action would be morally wrong and politically unwise.Q. Are the bishops promoting socialized medicine by advocating for universal access?All people need and should have access to comprehensive, quality health care that they can afford, and it should not depend on their stage in life, where or whether they or their parents work, how much they earn, where they live, or where they were born. There may be different ways to accomplish this, but the Bishops* Conference believes health care reform should be truly universal and genuinely affordable.Q. Health care is already expensive. Why advocate for legal immigrants to be covered too?
Legal immigrants pay taxes and contribute to the U.S. economy and social life in the same manner as U.S. citizens do. Therefore, there should be equity for legal immigrants in access to health care. In theCatholic tradition, health care is a basic human right, like education, and having access to it should not depend on where you were born. Achieving equality in this case, for instance, means repealing the fiveyear ban currently in effect for legal immigrants to access Medicaid, and ensuring that all pregnant women in the United States, who will be giving birth to U.S. citizens, are eligible along with their unbornchildren for health care.Q. What kind of actions do the bishops recommend to make quality healthcare accessible for all and genuinely affordable?
Many lower income families simply lack the resources to meet their health care expenses. For these families, significant premiums and cost sharing charges can serve as barriers to obtaining coverage or seeing a doctor. Medicaid cost-sharing protections should be maintained and new coverage options should protect the lowest income enrollees from burdensome cost sharing. The bishops have urged Congress to limit premiums or exempt families earning less then 200 percent of the FederalPoverty Level from monthly premiums; they also recommend limiting co-payments and other costs which could discourage needed care, and increasing eligibility levels for Medicaid and CHIP (Children*s HealthInsurance Program). They have urged Congress to provide states with resources to expand coverage and ensure sufficient funding for safety net clinics, hospitals and other providers serving those who willcontinue to fall through the cracks even after the system is reformed.Sister Mary Ann WalshDirector of Media RelationsUnited States Conference of Catholic Bishops3211 4th St., NEWashington, DC 20017-1194Ph 202-541-3201Fx 202-541-3173mwalsh@usccb.org

**My commnets: note the Bishops declaration that access to health care is a universal human right not a privilege. Also note the the preferential option for the poor and the Bishop's concern that health care be accessible for all, including legal immigrants. The Bishops affirm that any health care reform must be life affirming, from conception to natural death. And the Bishops certainly proclaim a pro-life, anti abortion message.

So maybe we must all continue to stay vigilant, gleen what the Church teaches through the Bishops, stop yelling at each other, oppose anything that effects the most vulnerable, the unborn, fight any promotion of abortion and support real health care reform that truly lifts the poor and marginalized.