Chicago Catholic News: Out of Left Field: The U.S. bishops and health care

Out of Left Field: The U.S. bishops and health care

(POSTED: 12/7/09) Do you think the American bishops understand that both the House and Senate health care reform bills as written, without the Stupak-Pitts amendment, adhere to the Hyde amendment and prohibit direct use of federal funds for abortion -– period?

Do you think the American bishops understand that currently, 87 percent of existing private health insurance plans include abortion coverage?

Do they realize that this means most people (even those who find abortion morally unacceptable) are subsidizing abortion coverage right now?

And if the bishops' own plans do not include this coverage, since their insurers also sell policies that do, aren't they still contributing to profits reaped by their insurance carriers’ coverage of abortion?

My own employer-paid health insurance covers abortion procedures, but not any form of birth control.

Do U.S. bishops understand that insurance companies base their plan coverages on what will cost them the least, not what is the most moral, the most ethical choice?

Their business decisions are made based on the analyses provided by actuaries, not moral theologians.

Perhaps the bishops really don't understand any of this . . . because their statements and actions, including the very substantial amount of donated money being spent to lobby against the current health care reforms bills, just don't make sense.

I have never heard or read of one Church leader speaking out against the abortion coverage currently provided by private health insurance carriers, even though this goes against the explicit beliefs of many of their customers. I have never noticed any attempt to educate Catholics about this ethical problem -– that their insurance premiums (and their employers') are subsidizing abortions.

And, don't you think that at least a few of these insurance executives or board chairpersons are Catholic? Have the bishops looked into that? Has Bishop Tobin sent any Catholic insurance executive living in his diocese a letter saying he or she must either stop directly aiding in the providing of abortions or stop receiving communion?

Have all dioceses scrutinized their entire investment portfolio to make sure they themselves are not benefiting financially from stock or mutual fund shares in insurance companies or health systems that provide abortion coverage or services? What about investments in businesses that offer any service, drug or equipment related to abortion procedures?

If so, I have not heard or read about this kind of due diligence on the part of Catholic bishops. And, yet, unless they have carefully examined all the ways our current health care system works against a pro-life ethic, our bishops would not even consider blocking the passage of health care reform, would they? They, like us, must have heard and read over and over these past weeks that 45,000 Americans die each year because of lack of health care. They, like us, must realize that adequate health care coverage will provide many women with problem pregnancies the support and resources to NOT choose abortion. And, every one of them must know that universal health care for all Americans will substantially lower this country’s shameful infant mortality rate -- a rate higher than a Third World country like Cuba, right?

The bishops, as the duly appointed leaders of the Catholic Church, certainly have the right -– the responsibility –- to espouse and work for a consistent pro-life ethic for this nation.

But, as a body of spiritual and moral leaders who said little, did almost nothing -- and certainly used few, if any of their resources, financial or otherwise, to oppose either a preemptive war of aggression which in no way met the test of Catholic traditional just war criteria or the immoral policies of torture that went along with it -- the bishops are now treading in dangerous waters.

Only when pro-life issues are related to human sexuality do we witness these men and their elected supporters playing political hardball. The Stupak-Pitts amendment goes far beyond the current Hyde amendment and the 30-plus years of legal decisions regarding women’s reproductive rights that are settled law in this country (at least for now.) This amendment would prohibit women from obtaining legal medical procedures under their totally privately paid-for health insurance even in the case of rape and incest.

Do our bishops understand that they are, in waging this aggressive and overtly political campaign, violating the principle of church/state separation according to many respected legal scholars? Various U.S. bishops have been calling "anti-Catholic" any statement critical of Church policy or behavior, whether it be the hierarchy's threat of opposition to health care reform, the Church's opposition to gay marriage, or even the scandalous behavior of our hierarchy regarding clerical sexual abuse. Do our bishops understand that if they continue to lead this morally lopsided crusade against health care reform unless they get their way, that they may very well cause the greatest groundswell of real anti-Catholic sentiment since Know Nothing Party days?

Just what do our bishops understand?

By Margaret Field
A Chicago-area Catholic who is involved in Vatican II reform and renewal efforts, she writes a regular column for ChicagoCatholicNews.
Contact: meafield@comcast.net or info@chicagocatholicnews.com

0 comments:

Quick Hits -- updated daily

(JULY 31) Armenian "church" in Lake Bluff losing tax-exempt status.

Featured Video

Reader Support

Featured Column

Links

0 comments:

Leave a Reply

Welcome to Chicago Catholic News

Quick Hits -- updated daily