www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall USCCB on health care "reform"

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has lobbied FOR health care reform for many years; citing charity and compassion. It has used its resources to convince Congress to prohibit federal funding for abortion and protection of health care workers and institutions from being FORCED to participate in abortion and passive euthanasia.

But here on the eve of a vote, the USCCB issued a statement issued today OPPOSING the proposed bill:

Catholics need to make their voices heard insisting that health care reform protect the lives, dignity, consciences and health of all. Provisions against abortion funding and in favor of conscience protection, affordability, and immigrants’ access to health care must be part of a fair and just health care reform bill. Unless and until these criteria are met, the final bill must be opposed.

For the bishops this is a radical pronouncement; that the bill is SO flawed that it should be scrapped.

PLEASE contact your Representative and your Senators. The following link www.usccb.org/action. [usccb.org] will take you to a site which has a form email which you may modify as you see fit. After you complete it it will send the email to the appropriate congressmen.

If we are silent, then we are allowing evil to prevail. PLEASE object to this bill!

Deacon Paul Boboige
Pro-Life Coordinator, Archeparchy of Pittsburgh

I have contacted my congressman and senators, and until the current crisis is resolved will continue to contact them once a week (via both e-mail and telephone).

I oppose the bill - yes - because it will pay for abortion. But more importantly I oppose it because socialism does not work. The bishops are morally wrong for ceding the responsibility for health care to the government. The only path that will provide quality health care at the lowest cost is one based on free market reforms (with the state only providing subsidies for the poor).

I am with John on this one.

This bill is a travesty.

My Congressman voted against it. Is really upset, and hopes it is flawed enough to be nerfed by the SCOTUS. I hope they (SCOTUS justices) ... do so on the relevant problems; extant law forbids federal abortion funding, so if that was not specifically repealed, at least that much is up for revocation.

From the Summary of H.R. 4872 - Reconciliation Act of 2010


I'm not 100% sure about the full effects or meaning of this, but this bill was passed and will now be sent to the Senate for consideration.

There will very likely not be another Senate bill. What the House Dems did was to promise these things but the Senate Dems are under no obligation to honor such promises. Indeed, they rejected and do not have the votes for most of what was promised and openly stated they wanted funding for abortion.

Expect the whole thing to quickly fade from the media with the hopes it will be forgotten and people will accept it.

Stupak & Company sold out. President Obama's executive order that no federal funds may be used for abortion is meaningless. The Senate bill apparently defines any subscriber monies (the money you would pay for your health care) as "non-federal money" and will require abortions be paid from that source.

If there was anything even remotely pro-life about the bill Planned Parenthood would be screaming. But they are very happy today as they will receive lots of funding to kill babies.

The USCCB has some blood on its hands here. They are a very pro-socialist group regarding health care. Which means they support rationing (since socialism in anything means eventual rationing). But regarding abortion, when you cede your responsibility to the State then you should not be surprised when the State does things that are immoral. Shame on the bishops.

Last week Walgreen's in Washington state stopped accepting new Medicaid patients because Walgreen's is reimbursed below cost. This is an intentional move. The plan here is that by reimbursing pharmacists and doctors at way below cost they will be forced out. Then the government can say that capitalism does not work and find justification to force the whole country into single-payer (full socialism in health care). Obama and others are on record as stating that it will be a 10-15 year process until free-market health care is gone and replaced with socialized medicine.

I thought it was a promise of such an executive order.

That is true. The House passed the Senate bill and offered another bill as a suggestion. The Senate bill will be passed into law and their so-called reconciliation bill will be lost in committees.

A very sad day, indeed.

We'll see how good the memories of the voters are in the primary elections this year. If they vote to overthrow the incumbents in the primary, then the general elections in November will be promising.

The news media were willingly duped when they said that a major group of Catholic nuns declared themselves in favor of the Health Care Reform bill. Here's a statement from the USCCB ProLife secretariat:

Clarification

Washington—A recent letter from Network, a social justice lobby of sisters, grossly overstated whom they represent in a letter to Congress that was also released to media.

Network’s letter, about health care reform, was signed by a few dozen people, and despite what Network said, they do not come anywhere near representing 59,000 American sisters.

The letter had 55 signatories, some individuals, some groups of three to five persons. One endorser signed twice.

There are 793 religious communities in the United States.

The math is clear. Network is far off the mark.

Sister Mary Ann Walsh
Director of Media Relations
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

This is an example of the deception for this bill from the President on down. Some day they will have to answer for it, as we all have to answer for our actions and inactions.

Praying to the patroness of our nation, The Theotokos, for conversion.

Deacon Paul Boboige

Amen! Amen! Amen!
Stephanos I

There is a way to have health care reform and universal coverage "without" government run health care!

Not all the news is bad. Attorney Generals in at least 11 States along with the Governor of Idaho are planning to challenge the Constitutionality of the Bill.

Lawrence,

Theoretically, the bill is unconstitutional. I really doubt that the Supreme Court will overturn it. Our abortion laws and funding are unconstitutional; federal interference in education is unconstitutional, etc, etc, etc.

But we can and should pray for a reversal.

Isn't nullification an option for states to consider too?

The AG for Alabama is in Washington today, too present it to file for the Supreme Court

Timeline of Major Provisions in the Democrats’ Health Care Package
Congressional Committee on Ways & Means
Selected List

2009
•2‐year tax credit (total cap of $1B) for new chronic disease therapy investments
•Medicare cuts to hospitals begin (long‐term care (7/1/09) and inpatient and
rehabilitation facilities (FY10))

2010
•States and Federal officials review premium increases
•FDA authorized to approve "follow‐on" biologics
•Deny "black liquor" eligibility for cellulosic biofuel producers credit
•Tax credits provided to certain small employers for health care‐related expenses
•Codify economic substance doctrine and impose penalties for underpayments (transactions on/after 3/23/10)
•Provide income exclusion for specified Indian tribe health benefits provided after 3/23/10
•Temporary high‐risk pool and high‐cost union retiree reinsurance ($5 B each for 3.5 years) (6/23/10)
•Impose 10% tax on indoor UV tanning (7/1/10)
•Medicare cuts to inpatient psych hospitals (7/1/10)
•Prohibits non‐group plans from canceling coverage (rescissions) (plan years
beginning 9/23/10)
•Requires plans to cover, at no charge, most preventive care (plan years beginning 9/23/10)
•Allows dependents to stay on parents’ policies through age 26 (plan years
beginning 9/23/10)
•Provides limited protections to children with pre‐existing conditions (plan years beginning 9/23/10)
•Hospitals in "Frontier States" (ND, MT, WY, SD, UT) receive higher Medicare
payments (FY11)

2011
•Medicare Advantage cuts begin
•No longer allowed to use FSA, HSA, HRA, Archer MSA distributions for over‐the-counter medicines
•Medicare cuts to home health begin
•Wealthier seniors ($85k/$170k) begin paying higher Part D premiums (not indexed for inflation in Parts B/D)
•Medicare reimbursement cuts when seniors use diagnostic imaging like MRIs, CT scans, etc.
•Medicare cuts begin to ambulance services, ASCs, diagnostic labs, and durable medical equipment
•Impose new annual tax on brand name pharmaceutical companies
•Americans begin paying premiums for federal long‐term care insurance (CLASS Act)
•Health plans required to spend a minimum of 80% of premiums on medical claims
•Physicians in "Frontier States" (ND, MT, WY, SD, UT) receive higher Medicare payments
•Prohibition on Medicare payments to new physician‐owned hospitals
•Penalties for non‐qualified HSA and Archer MSA distributions double (to 20%)
•Seniors prohibited from purchasing power wheelchairs unless they first rent for 13 months
•Brand name drug companies begin providing mandatory 50% discount in the Part D “donut hole”
•Employers required to report value of health benefits on W‐2 (health care benefits become fully taxable)
•New Medicare cuts to long‐term care hospitals begin (7/1/11)
•Additional Medicare cuts to hospitals and cuts to nursing homes and inpatient rehab facilities begin (FY12)
•New tax on all private health insurance policies to pay for comp. eff. research (plan years beginning FY12)

2012
•Medicare cuts to dialysis treatment begins
•Require information reporting on payments to corporations
•Medicare to reduce spending by using an HMO‐like coordinated care model
(Accountable Care Organizations)
•New Medicare cuts to inpatient psych hospitals (7/1/12)
•Medicare cuts to hospitals with high readmission rates begin (FY13)
•Medicare cuts to hospice begin (FY13)

2013
•Impose $2,500 annual cap on FSA contributions (indexed to CPI)
•Increase Medicare wage tax by 0.9% and impose a new 3.8% tax on unearned, nonactive business income for those earning over $200k/$250k (not indexed to inflation)
•Generally increases (7.5% to 10%) threshold at which medical expenses, as a % of income, can be deductible
•Eliminate deduction for Part D retiree drug subsidy employers receive
•Impose 2.3% excise tax on medical devices
•Medicare cuts to hospitals that treat low‐income seniors begin
•Post‐acute pay for quality reporting begins
•CO‐OP Program: Secretary awards loans and grants for establishing nonprofit health insurers
•$500,000 deduction cap on compensation paid to insurance company employees and officers
•Part D “donut hole” reduction begins, reaching a 25% reduction by 2020

2014
•Individuals without gov't‐approved, gov’t required coverage are subject to a tax of the greater of $695 or 2.5% of income
•Employers who fail to offer "affordable" coverage would pay a $3,000 penalty for every employee that receives a subsidy through the Exchange
•Employers who do not offer insurance must pay a tax penalty of $2,000 for every fulltime employee
•More Medicare cuts to home health begin
•States must have established Exchanges
•Employers with more than 200 employees can auto‐enroll employees in health coverage, with opt‐out
•All non‐grandfathered and Exchange health plans required to meet federally-mandated levels of coverage
•States must cover parents /childless adults up to 138% of poverty on Medicaid, receive increased FMAP
•Tax credits available for Exchange‐based coverage, amount varies by income up to 400% of poverty
•Insurers cannot impose any coverage restrictions on pre‐existing conditions
(guaranteed issue/renewability)
•Modified community rating: individual or family coverage; geography; 3:1 ratio for age; 1.5 :1 for smoking
•Insurers must offer coverage to anyone wanting a policy and every policy has to be renewed
•Limits out‐of‐pocket cost‐sharing (tied to limits in HSAs, currently $5,950/$11,900 indexed to COLA)
•Insurance plans must include government‐defined "essential benefits" and coverage levels
•OPM must offer at least two multi‐state plans in every state
•Employers can offer some employees free choice vouchers for health insurance in the Exchange
•Government board (IPAB) begins submitting proposals to cut Medicare
•Impose tax on nearly all private health insurance plans
•Medicare payment cuts for hospital‐acquired infections begin (FY15)

2015
•More Medicare cuts to home health begin

2016
•States can form interstate insurance compacts if the coverage with HHS approval

2017
•Physician pay‐for‐quality program begins for all physicians
•States may allow large employers and multi‐employer health plans to purchase coverage in the Exchange.
•States may apply to the Secretary for a limited waiver from certain federal requirements

2018
•Impose "Cadillac tax on “high cost” plans, 40% tax on the benefit value above a certain threshold: ($10,200 individual coverage, $27,500 family or self‐only union multiemployer coverage)

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Congressman John Dingell said on March 23rd reaffirmed that “it will take a long time to do the necessary administrative steps to do the legislation to control the people.”

President Obama, Senator Harry Reid, Speaker Nancy Pilosi and numerous other Democrats are on record as saying that the ultimate goal is for full socialism in health care: a full government single payer system and the abolishment of private insurance companies. This is not about health care. It is about power.