Bishops Blast Obama Health Care Plan by Deal W. Hudson 7/21/09

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Many have been wondering when the U.S. bishops would comment on the Obama health care plan -- given that it contains abortion coverage.

Well, their statement has finally arrived. It comes in the form of a letter from Bishop William F. Murphy of Rockville Center to all the members of Congress.

Bishop Murphy writes as chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development.

"No health care plan should compel us or others to pay for the destruction of human life, whether through government funding or mandatory coverage of abortion. Any such action would be morally wrong," writes Bishop Murphy.

The bishops have been lobbying for universal health care for many years, thus the letter from Bishop Murphy contains many specific proposals they would like to see incorporated into the legislation. For example, Bishop Murphy asks for a repeal of the five-year waiting period for legal immigrants to receive Medicaid benefits.

He also wants all pregnant women -- regardless of their immigration status -- who are going to give birth to American citizens to be eligible for health coverage.

There is no mention in the letter of the possible impact of the health care bill on quality of health care itself or on the right of citizens to private health insurance.

As it turns out, President Obama himself is not clear about the language contained in the bill regarding private health insurance. Shouldn't the president's own confusion be taken as a sign that this massive piece of legislation is being rushed through the Congress without adequate time for analysis and debate?

If passed, this bill will give the government a huge amount of control over our everyday lives. We only have to go to the DMV every now and then to see what that's like. Imagine facing a DMV experience, or its equivalent, when your child is sick.

My own experience of the managed health care (HMO) at Kaiser Permanente is enough to make me oppose this bill. I am facing serious ear surgery on August 12 as a result of the poor care I received at the Kaiser in White Plans in the early 90s. The failure of the doctors at Kaiser to locate the simple cause -- a sinus blockage -- of serial sinus and ear infections over several years has created a more serious issue which I now have to deal with.

Each time I went to Kaiser with my problem, I saw a different physician who had no familiarity with my medical history. He or she would flip through my charts as we talked. It was all about getting me in and out of there as quickly as possible -- this went on for several years until I met a Kaiser doctor who took pity on me. I told him the story I'd told all the others, but he took the time to give me all the tests I needed and found the blockage. After a simple out-patient surgery, the problem was solved; but by then, the damage had been done to my ear.

A similar, but potentially worse, situation happened to my wife -- she nearly died because of poor care from the same Kaiser. (I won't give the details.) When she described the way she'd been treated to her long-time physician in Atlanta, he began spluttering with expletives... and he was a real Southern gentlemen of the old school.

Managed health care on a national scale, run by a federal bureaucracy, will be a nightmare -- much worse than the problems we now face.

I can promise you that members of Congress and the Obama administration will not be subjected to the same health care system, if it ever passes.

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