Commentators have described last Sunday’s passage of the Health Care Reform Bill by the House of Representatives as historic. However, historic is not the only adjective to describe the bill- flawed is closer to the reality.
The legislation extends abortion coverage and denies conscience protection for individuals and institutions. It also fails to adequately cover all people as this bill denies legal immigrants’ access to Medicaid for five years and prohibits undocumented immigrants from buying insurance for their families in the exchanges using their own money.
The U.S. Catholic bishops have long insisted “that health care reform which truly protects the life, dignity, consciences and health of all is a moral imperative and urgent national priority.” Health Care Reform is very much needed in our nation and the political bargaining and bantering between the White House, U.S. House leadership and members of Congress was rather unseemly and clearly not a historic high for the nation. The longstanding law of 30 years known as the Hyde Amendment, which forbids federal funding of most abortions, was stripped from the Senate version that passed the House last Sunday. In an attempt to placate the remaining pro-life Democrats, President Obama will issue an executive order that denies federal funding of abortion. However, many legal experts have already indicated this is an insufficient remedy to the serious problem.
Historic as Health Care Reform may be, the current bill fails to sufficiently address the serious concerns about the sanctity of life, the protection of conscience and the needs of the immigrant community. Until these flaws can be corrected we join the U.S. Catholic bishops in their call to our national leaders “to take the steps necessary to ensure that health care reform respects the life and dignity of all, from conception to natural death.” There is still time left to correct the flaws of President Obama’s Health Care Reform and we urge that the leaders of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to correct the flaws and make the moment truly historic.
