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PDF versionThe USCCB Ramps Up on Health Care
by Michael Sean Winters on Oct. 29, 2009
The USCCB has prepared a bulletin insert for all parishes regarding health care, entitled “Tell Congress: Remove Abortion Funding & Mandates from Needed Health Care Reform.” There is one word in that title of the insert that, unfortunately, fails to find any amplification in the rest of the text – “Needed.”
The bishops’ conference is entirely correct that now is the time to call your congressional representatives. Indeed, no matter what you political leanings, I think it is always a good thing when citizens are contacting their representatives to voice their opinions. But, as I have argued before, it is critical to the current debate that we Catholics marry our insistence that the health care reform not provide federal funding for abortion, or for abortion coverage, with an equally firm insistence that we want health care reform. We want to support this effort.
Republicans have decided to adopt a rejectionist stance on health care reform, so they are not going to decide the final outcome of this debate. The people, the only people, in a position to remove the abortion funding are pro-life Democrats and those Democrats who are not really pro-life but understand the concerns of pro-life voters and don’t want to see health care reform get shipwrecked over the issue.
Sources very close to the negotiations tell me they think that the Stupak amendment might, with some modification, pass the full House. But, the last thing we want is members putting in their chits on behalf of opposing the public option and not on behalf of restrictions for abortion funding. The person who is most likely to get a hearing from Speaker Nancy Pelosi is someone who will vote with her on the public option but also in favor of the Stupak Amendment.
So, I applaud the USCCB for its flyer. I just wish they had made more of the fact that health care reform is needed. It is. And if we support it, and are clear about our support, we have a better chance of winning support for Stupak’s amendment. If the leadership concludes that nothing will satisfy the USCCB, they have no reason to listen.
I'm happy with health care as
I'm happy with health care as it is now. Reform is not needed, certainly not the proposed reforms made by the Democrat Party; those reforms will destroy the high quality and access that Americans currently enjoy in their health care. Scrap all the plans and start over with a simple, small plan to cover people who genuinely are in need. What we don't need is for the government to take over about 1/5 of the economy. But this "reform" is really a Marxist/socialist power grab disguised as health care "reform". Obama and the Democrat Party are and will be a disaster for America, and America is waking up to that fact. Just wait until Tuesday's elections when New Jersey and Virginia will have elected Republican governors to replace incumbent Democrats. Independent minded Americans, fair-minded Americans are sick of Obama and the Democrats threatening to steal more of our liberty and wealth.
You know that you pretty much
You know that you pretty much proved Michael's point, don't you.
No I didn't. He claims reform
No I didn't. He claims reform is needed; I dispute that. He claims we can and should support health care reform; I deny that. Can't you read?
The large number of Americans who are opposed to this Marxist power grab masquerading as health care reform will kill the proposals.
No, you prove his point that
No, you prove his point that you will have no influence in the process as a Catholic if you attack it as some Marxist plot to steal your health care (which it isn't). BTW, NJ, VA and even MA only prove that you can't win with lousing candidates - especially if you don't pull out the students and first time voters who went with That One in 2008. Sadly, many of them graduated and are a bit discouraged because they expected a White House job and didnt't get one. Long term, when they get older, they will be reliable Democratic voters and we will be long dead, due not to health care or the lack thereof, but because we will "age out." However, most of the GOP base is aging out sooner.
I am glad you are happy with
I am glad you are happy with your health care - I will share that with my daughter who was denied tests because an accountant thought a second opinion was not needed, I will share that with friends who lost their son because he was uninsurable, and I will share that with the people my wife works with who have a child who cannot be insured at the age of 2.5 years because of a pre-existing condition. I will also be sure to recall that Jesus did not have a common purse for the apostles, and that He talked about visiting and caring for the sick and those who are in need. To be honest you should read something beside talking points from the Republican Party and meet people you so readily dismiss. The real illness in this country is what you exemplify - I have mine and don't care about other people who don't have what I have - this illness is called greed. What is needed is not a Democratic or Republican Health Care Plan. What is needed is a Christian Health Care Plan that reaches all people who need health care. The mindless name calling and fear of having something taken away from you is what will condemn the US to the scrap-heap of history. I wish you well in your journey to wealth and health care and would ask you to remember what Jesus told us about camels and needles.
Are you crazy? What about 25
Are you crazy? What about 25 million people without Heath Care Insurance? You and many like you know nothing about social studies. You have to go to study again.
The last paragraph says it
The last paragraph says it all--health care reform is NEEDED. When the needs of millions of people without health insurance and the thousands who die every year due to lack of health insurnace are not recognized as being of great importance, we will never get anywhere on this issue. Threats don't work. What works is legislators meeting and speaking with each other, and ironing out the difficulties. That is what is happening now. Michael is right that supporting reform with a robust public option, instead of threats against reform at all, will go much farther in getting a Hyde-type amendment into the bill. That is basically all the Stupak amendment is, and if the bishops would take on a less adversarial nature, maybe, just maybe, the leadership would listen more. It couldn't hurt and everyone wins in the end.
Peace and blessings.
Maybe you could post a sample
Maybe you could post a sample letter with appropriate emphasis that we could send to our legislators?
Why don't the bishops also
Why don't the bishops also issue a statement that says no one should be forced to pay for or participate in war? I am opposed to war on the grounds that it is murder but I am forced to pay for it with my taxes, and by proxy, to participate in the killing of innocents. What is the difference?
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