U.S. Bishops Voice Disappointment in
Abortion-Funding Provisions in Senate Health Bill, Urge Better Care for
Immigrants and Affordability
WASHINGTON—The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops urged the
Senate to make essential changes its health reform bill in order to keep
in place federal law on abortion funding and conscience protection on
abortion, protect access to health care for immigrants and include strong
provisions for adequate affordability.
The bishops called the Senate health care bill an “enormous
disappointment” that creates new and unacceptable federal policy for
funding and coverage of abortions, as well as rights of conscience. Bishop
William Murphy, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo and Bishop John Wester voiced
their wish for better health care reform legislation in a November 20
letter to the Senate. They chair the bishops’ Committees on Domestic
Justice and Human Development, Pro-Life Activities and Migration,
respectively.
The letter, which was accompanied with a fact sheet on the House Stupak
Amendment (http://www.usccb.org/mr/mediatalk/StupakAmendmentFactsheet.pdf),
urged Senators to improve the Senate health care bill in the key areas of
affordability, immigration, federal funding and coverage of abortion and
conscience rights.
According to the bishops, the bill “does not live up to President
Obama’s commitment of barring the use of federal dollars for abortion and
maintaining current conscience laws.” They cited an “abortion surcharge”
that would force insurance purchasers to pay for other people’s abortions,
provisions that would allow the HHS Secretary to mandate unlimited
abortion coverage nationwide, and that the bill does not even allow for
religious institutions to offer their own employees coverage that conforms
to their institution’s teaching.
“The Catholic bishops have advocated for decades for affordable
and accessible health care for all, especially the poor and marginalized,”
the bishops said. “The Senate bill makes great progress in covering people
in our nation. However, the Senate bill would still leave over 24 million
people in our nation without health insurance. This is not
acceptable.”
The bishops encouraged expanding Medicaid eligibility for those living
at 133 percent or lower of the federal policy level. They also urged an
end to the five-year ban on legal immigrants for accessing federal health
benefits programs and said that undocumented persons should not be barred
from purchasing insurance plans with their own money.
“Providing affordable and accessible health care that clearly
reflects these fundamental principles is a public good, moral imperative
and urgent national priority,” said the bishops.
The text of the letter can be found online at http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/2009-11-20-ltr-usccb-health-care-to-senate.pdf
and in Spanish at http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/SP_1080_hc_reform_Sen_1120.pdf.
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Keywords: Senate, health care reform, bill, letter, bishops, chairmen,
U.S. Bishops, USCCB, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop
William Murphy, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Bishop John Wester, abortion
funding, federal funding, conscience rights, abortion coverage, Stupak
Amendment, immigrants, affordability, Medicare, Medicaid, health
insurance
