The Church and health care - TwinCities.com

The Church and health care - TwinCities.com
On Wednesday afternoon I drove from St. Paul to Duluth for a 30-minute meeting with Congressman Jim Oberstar, members of the staff of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, representatives of two other Catholic dioceses, a Lutheran pastor, and an Orthodox priest. We discussed with Mr. Oberstar our shared concern as Christians about the current version of the health insurance bill. Yes, we did make our point with him about our opposition to mandatory coverage for abortion - about which he, a Democrat, agrees with us - but we also shared with him our conviction that health care is a human right and should be accessible to all, and our hope that the reformed program will give special consideration to those people who live below the poverty level. Even before the current debate began, the Catholic bishops of this country have consistently called for reform of the health care system and have championed the cause of the poor. Because we include unborn citizens among the poor and most vulnerable, we are deemed obstructionists by those who have another agenda.