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08 Feb 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Jesus is kept busy in this Sunday's gospel healing the many sick people who were brought to him. In one bright spot on a dark economic horizon, it will become vastly cheaper for most people to keep their health insurance after losing a job if a provision in the current stimulus proposal makes it into law. The billions to be poured into health care from the economic stimulus package will do little if anything about the chronic conditions behind the nation's stubbornly large ranks of uninsured, advocates for reform point out. Instead, the plan is a temporary lifeline for nearly desperate times. For those who qualify, relief would be substantial. Under a dramatic, temporary expansion of COBRA, the law that lets the unemployed keep health insurance from their old job for up to 18 months if they pay for it in full, costs would drop by about two-thirds for a year. Moreover, people who lose a job they've had for 10 years could stay on COBRA at their expense all the way to age 65, when Medicare takes over, if they don't get another job with insurance first. People 55 and over could do the same without meeting the 10-year requirement. It's so expensive for people to extend that insurance now that many don't do it. It can quickly eat up a majority of unemployment benefits. People who lose jobs at businesses that employ fewer than 20 people don't qualify for COBRA. For them, the government plan would bring many more jobless people under Medicaid's wing. The federal government would pay for that and give states much more money to run the cost-shared part of the program. In return, states taking the extra money would have to back down on some of the cuts they've made to the program recently. Altogether it's a pricey lifeline: $40 billion to subsidize health insurance for the unemployed and more than twice that to support Medicaid. Source: An article by Calvin Woodward for the Associated Press

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Healthy developments

17 May 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

God shows no partiality, we hear in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles this Sunday. Neither should the U.S. health care system, says President Barack Obama in his push for health care reform and universal coverage, which began in earnest this week. Obama met Monday with a consortium of hospitals, insurance companies, drug makers, and doctors who promised to be part of the solution by holding down future cost increases. On Tuesday he met with CEOs, corporate benefits officers, union leaders, and state and local health officials to talk about ways to improve worker fitness and reduce absenteeism. Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that her chamber would have a sweeping health care bill on the floor by the end of July, an announcement Obama hailed. "That's the kind of urgency and determination that we need to achieve what I believe will be historic legislation," the president said, standing beside Pelosi at the White House. "Our health care system is broken," Obama said. "We are not going to rest until we've delivered the kind of health care reform that's going to bring down costs for families, improve quality, affordability, [and] accessibility for all Americans." Neither the speaker nor the president offered details of how the legislation will look--the subject of ongoing debate on Capitol Hill. Source: Articles by Ricardo Alonso Saldivar for Associated Press and Wendel Goler for Fox News

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Healthy developments

17 May 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

God shows no partiality, we hear in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles this Sunday. Neither should the U.S. health care system, says President Barack Obama in his push for health care reform and universal coverage, which began in earnest this week. Obama met Monday with a consortium of hospitals, insurance companies, drug makers, and doctors who promised to be part of the solution by holding down future cost increases. On Tuesday he met with CEOs, corporate benefits officers, union leaders, and state and local health officials to talk about ways to improve worker fitness and reduce absenteeism. Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that her chamber would have a sweeping health care bill on the floor by the end of July, an announcement Obama hailed. "That's the kind of urgency and determination that we need to achieve what I believe will be historic legislation," the president said, standing beside Pelosi at the White House. "Our health care system is broken," Obama said. "We are not going to rest until we've delivered the kind of health care reform that's going to bring down costs for families, improve quality, affordability, [and] accessibility for all Americans." Neither the speaker nor the president offered details of how the legislation will look--the subject of ongoing debate on Capitol Hill. Source: Articles by Ricardo Alonso Saldivar for Associated Press and Wendel Goler for Fox News

barack obama health care health care reform nancy pelosi
A prescription for health-care reform

21 Jun 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

"Whoever is in Christ is a new creation," the author of Second Corinthians confidently proclaims this Sunday. President Barack Obama took his case for creating a new system of health-care coverage to the American Medical Association (AMA) Monday. Obama told wary doctors Monday that the nation's health system is a "ticking time bomb for the federal budget" and said those who call his plan for a taxpayer-funded coverage option a step toward a government takeover of health care "are not telling the truth." Obama told the AMA the time is right to overhaul the system but acknowledged how difficult it will be. "You'll hear warnings about socialized medicine . . . long lines and rationed care, decisions made by bureaucrats and not doctors," he said. Obama countered that a public plan would not be a "Trojan horse for a single-payer system" in which government regulates all health care. AMA leaders said they share Obama's goal of covering the nation's more than 46 million uninsured people, but some members of the group said they have qualms about the details. Doctors fed up with red tape are not "confident that the government's going to be able to take over the whole system and do any better," said J. Gregory Cooper, a Cynthiana, Kentucky family doctor. Source: An article by Judy Keen for USA TODAY

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Hospitals hospitable to savings

12 Jul 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

This Sunday's reading from the Letter to the Ephesians speaks of redemption. The Obama administration, hoping to redeem a push for comprehensive healthcare legislation that some say has been floundering, announced this week that major hospital organizations have agreed to save the nation $155 billion in healthcare expenses over the next 10 years. Vice President Joe Biden announced the agreement Wednesday but offered few details on how the savings would be achieved, saying only that they would come about as a result of delivery system reforms and trimming the annual inflationary adjustment to hospital reimbursement payments from government programs. The administration is pursuing such agreements with key sectors in healthcare to build support and funding for sweeping reforms that are estimated to cost upward of 1 trillion dollars. "Folks, reform is coming," Biden said as he announced the agreement with the hospital groups. "It is on track. . . . We have tried for decades and decades to fix the broken system and we have never in my entire career in public life been this close." "Our hospitals are cracking under the weight of providing quality healthcare for Americans who lack insurance," he added. "The status quo is simply unacceptable. Rising costs are crushing us." The three groups participating in the deal were the Catholic Health Association of the United States, the American Hospital Association, and the Hospital Corporation of America. Source: An article by Reuters

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Healthcare reform suffers from hypertension

23 Aug 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

We hear in this Sunday's first reading that when Joshua questioned the religious loyalties of his fellow Israelites, they responded, "Far be it from us to forsake the Lord." President Barack Obama's recent signals that he would be willing to forsake a "public option" on healthcare insurance for the sake of bipartisan support has led to an outcry among the president's more liberal supporters. Administration officials insisted that they have not shied away from their support for a public option to compete with private insurance companies, an idea they said Obama still prefers to see in a final bill. "I don't understand why the left of the left has decided that this is their Waterloo," said a senior White House adviser. "We've gotten to this point where healthcare on the left is determined by the breadth of the public option. I don't understand how that has become the measure of whether what we achieve is healthcare reform." When the Obama campaign first crafted its healthcare proposal, the creation of a government-sponsored insurance option "was not the most important thing," said David Cutler, a Harvard University economics professor and campaign adviser on healthcare issues. Obama, like Cutler, embraced the concept because it would afford consumers more options, Cutler said. But while the idea has given conservatives an opening to attack Obama for allegedly supporting government-run healthcare, "to the left it's become this unholy grail" without which any reforms would be inadequate, Cutler said. In a further ratcheting of tensions in a highly charged debate, some Democratic leaders Tuesday accused Republicans of reflexively opposing healthcare reforms in an attempt to score political points against the Obama administration. "The Republican leadership," said White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, "has made a strategic decision that defeating President Obama's healthcare proposal is more important for their political goals than solving the health insurance problems that Americans face every day." Those leaders say the time for bipartisanship has passed and they now intend to pour their energy into mustering sufficient Democratic votes for the proposals. Source: Articles by Michael D. Shear and Ceci Connolly for the Washington Post and Carl Hulse and Jeff Zeleny for the New York Times

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Health care debate enters critical phase

13 Sep 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In the reading from the Book of Isaiah this Sunday, the Lord opens the ear of the prophet so the prophet might hear. President Barack Obama hopes that Congress and the American people heard his message on health care reform in a major address delivered Wednesday evening. Obama offered his most detailed outline for legislation: "Under this plan, it will be against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing condition. As soon as I sign this bill, it will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick or water it down when you need it most. They will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or a lifetime." He called for serious proposals from Democrats and Republicans to address chronic health care problems and rising costs, and warned, "I will not stand by while the special interests use the same old tactics to keep things exactly the way they are. If you misrepresent what's in the plan, we will call you out. And I will not accept the status quo as a solution. Not this time. Not now." The President also sought to lay to rest what he termed "bogus claims." "The best example is the claim, made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Such a charge would be laughable if it weren't so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple. "There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false--the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally. And one more misunderstanding I want to clear up--under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place." Reaching out to Republicans and independents, Obama said his administration would authorize a series of test programs in some states to check the impact of medical malpractice changes on health-insurance costs. Responding on behalf of Republicans, Rep. Charles Boustany of Louisiana said the country wanted Obama to instruct Democratic congressional leaders that "it's time to start over on a commonsense, bipartisan plan focused on lowering the cost of health care while improving quality." Source: Text of President Obama's healthcare speech posted at Politico.com and articles by David Espo for Associated Press and CNN.com contributors Ed Hornick, Ed Henry, Suzanne Malveaux, and Dana Bash

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Testy health care reform passes test vote

18 Oct 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Jesus, the "high priest" described in this Sunday's reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, was "tested in every way." Contentious health care reform legislation wending its way through the U.S. Congress barely passed a bipartisanship test Tuesday when the Senate Finance Committee bill managed to gain the support of Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine. A second Maine Republican, Senator Susan Collins, signaled Wednesday she's open to voting for sweeping health care legislation this year. The 10-year, $829 billion bill was approved on a 14-9 vote after Snowe broke ranks with her Republican colleagues to support the plan, considered the most cautious and limited of those passed by various Senate and House committees. Collins said that the bill approved Tuesday still needs substantial improvements to make coverage more affordable, contain costs, and protect Medicare. Nevertheless, she joined Snowe in endorsing the goal of far-reaching changes. Source: An article by Ricardo Alonso Zaldivar for the Associated Press

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Bishops flex lobbying muscle

29 Nov 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

"Guide me in your truth and teach me," the psalmist asks of the Lord in this Sunday's psalm. The U.S. Roman Catholic bishops have been lobbying Congress to come up with a health care bill more in line with what the church teaches. Their efforts contributed to the inclusion of restrictive abortion language in the U.S. House health care bill. The version of the bill currently being debated in the Senate, however, does not contain that language. The bishops have consistently identified three priority areas in the health care debate: abortion, religious conscience clauses, and immigrant rights. They urged the Senate to change its version of the bill in order to keep in place federal law on abortion funding and conscience protection on abortion; protect access to health care for immigrants; and include strong provisions for adequate affordability. "I don't think the Catholics in the pews will get quite as focused on a message of immigrants as they have been on the question of abortion," said Stephen Schneck, a professor of politics at Catholic University of America. "And I'm not convinced the church leaders are willing to expend the political capital with those Catholics in order to promote the cause." Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), a Catholic who participated in the intense negotiations over the final abortion language in the House, said the pressure from the church to ease restrictions on immigrants was "not even close" to the abortion language tug-of-war. Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity who is president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association, called the House bill historic and said it "brings our nation closer to ensuring quality, affordable health care for everyone and to reversing the injustice of millions of un- and underinsured women, men, and children." Success in the House came after the church ran a classic lobbying operation: deploying paid staff to Capitol Hill, tapping influential bishops to make private appeals to key congressional leaders, and distributing bulletin inserts to 19,000 parishes with easy instructions and sample wording for sending a message to local representatives. The bishops say they've found a lobbying model that could provide them a stronger voice in future policy debates. "It was a good example of how we, as a conference, can work together to have a positive influence on legislation," said Bishop William Murphy, head of the domestic justice and human development committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Some lawmakers and others, however, have questioned whether the bishops' activities constitute substantial political lobbying and therefore endanger the church's tax-exempt status. Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) has suggested that IRS rules may be too lenient. "The IRS is less restrictive about church involvement in efforts to influence legislation than it is about involvement in campaigns and elections," Woolsey said. "Given the political behavior of USCCB in this case, maybe it shouldn't be." The church's strategic decisions are significant because with Catholics representing the largest single religious group among members of Congress--at 30 percent--the church can gain access across party lines. Another reason the bishops could find an entry into the health care debate is the church's vast array of clinics and hospitals that often serve those most in need, including legal and illegal immigrants. Source: Articles by Jeanne Cummings for Politico, Patricia Zapor for Catholic News Service,Eliza Newlin Carney for the National Journal Online, and a USCCB news release

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Sometimes fevered health care debate continues

27 Dec 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

During the Sunday, January 3 Mass celebrating the Epiphany of the Lord, we hear the psalmist praise the Lord as the one who "shall rescue the poor when he cries out, and the afflicted when he has no one to help him." President Obama campaigned on a promise to make health care more affordable and accessible to millions who currently lack the resources to obtain it. He and the Democrat-controlled U.S. Congress have spent much of the past year struggling to fulfill that promise amidst an atmosphere of often bitter partisanship. At year end they appeared close to a victory, but the final outcome is still uncertain. Health care reform was also at or near the top of lists of religion stories of the year, in part because of controversies over abortion and the role the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and other faith groups played in shaping the debate. Some accused religious leaders of stepping too far into partisan politics, while others defended the practice to be in keeping with the role of moral leadership.

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