Latest US Bishops statement on health care bill

BISHOPS CALL SENATE HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL ‘DEFICIENT,’
ESSENTIAL CHANGES NEEDED BEFORE MOVING FORWARD

Seek to retain federal policy on abortion funding
and conscience protection
Want to protect access to health care that immigrants have now,
remove barriers to access
Need strong provisions for adequate affordability
and coverage standards

WASHINGTON—The current health care reform bill is “deficient” and should not move forward without “essential changes,” the chairmen of three committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops said December 22.

The chairs, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities; Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York, of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; and Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City, of the Committee on Migration, stated their position in a December 22 letter to senators working to pass the Senate version of health reform legislation.

A link to a PDF of the entire letter can be found in the USCCB statement here.

The legislative proposal now advancing “violates the longstanding federal policy against the use of federal funds for elective abortions and health plans that include such abortions -- a policy upheld in all health programs covered by the Hyde Amendment as well as in the Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program -- and now in the House-passed ‘Affordable Health Care for America Act,’” the bishops said.

They said that the health care bill passed by the House of Representatives “keeps in place the longstanding and widely supported federal policy against government funding of elective abortions and plans that include elective abortions” and “ensures that where federal funds are involved, people are not required to pay for other people’s abortions.” The Senate bill does not maintain this commitment...