Dear Congressman Stupak:
Why do you feel that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops should have any sway over American health care policy? You have managed to get their approval for your Amendment "which would prevent federal subsidies from going to any insurance plans that cover abortion."
So what's the problem? That sounds innocuous enough. Ah, but the details, the details.
Under their amendment, women who purchase comprehensive private insurance packages — that include abortion services — would have to pay for the entire cost of the package (even if they qualify for subsidies).They’re arguing that the current firewall between public and private money is inadequate. If a woman uses federal subsidies to pay for a basic benefit, she would have more private money available to fund her abortion, they claim. Or, alternatively, “premiums paid to that plan in the form of taxpayer-funded subsidies help support that abortion coverage even if individual abortion procedures are paid for out of a separate pool of privately-paid premium dollars.”
And the Catholic Bishops don't like that.
But the Catholic Bishops should have no moral authority at all. They hid knowledge of pedophilia from the criminal justice system; they even moved their priests around to keep them from being charged with pedophilia. Their approval shouldn't be a necessary requirement for Congress to pass health care reform.
Posted by Linkmeister at November 7, 2009 10:11 AM | TrackBack