The New Health Care Bill Might Not Cover Women's Health But Orrin Hatch Insists On Paying For Voodoo Sessions

The big health care reform talk since Saturday night's passage of the House Bill has been about the attempt of the Republicans with the connivance of 64 anti-choice Democrats to severely restrict-- in fact, to take away-- women's health options. By Monday morning 41 progressives had signed a letter to Pelosi vowing to vote against a final bill if it includes the reprehensible Stupak-Pitts anti-choice amendment.

As Members of Congress we believe that women should have access to a full range of reproductive health care. Health care reform must not be misused as an opportunity to restrict women’s access to reproductive health services.

The Stupak-Pitts amendment to H.R. 3962, The Affordable Healthcare for America Act, represents an unprecedented and unacceptable restriction on women’s ability to access the full range of reproductive health services to which they are lawfully entitled. We will not vote for a conference report that contains language that restricts women’s right to choose any further than current law.

Senior pro-choice Democrats have assured them the anti-choice wording will not be in the final bill. So with corporately-owned reactionaries like Orrin Hatch, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham vowing to block the bill as being too progressive; with progressives enraged that the bill isn't nearly progressive enough; and with the Senate's ultimate weathervane of cluelessness and stupidity, chirping away that she's pro-choice but not that pro-choice, no one has picked up on the Republicans' one big initiative to fashion the bill into something that would be acceptable to people still living in the 14th Century... or in Afghanistan in case Obama decides to annex it.

A few days ago the L.A. Times reported on a provision slipped into the Senate bill that "would require insurers to consider covering Christian Science prayer treatments as medical expenses." Orrin Hatch is behind the provision, but he was aided by Kennedy and Kerry, the senators from Massachusetts, which is where Christian Science has its world headquarters.

The measure would put Christian Science prayer treatments -- which substitute for or supplement medical treatments -- on the same footing as clinical medicine. While not mentioning the church by name, it would prohibit discrimination against "religious and spiritual healthcare."... Phil Davis, a senior Christian Science Church official, said prayer treatment was an effective alternative to conventional healthcare.

"We are making the case for this, believing there is a connection between healthcare and spirituality," said Davis, who distributed 11,000 letters last week to Senate officials urging support for the measure.

"We think this is an important aspect of the solution, when you are talking about not only keeping the cost down, but finding effective healthcare," he said.

I was diagnosed with cancer around 7 years ago and chose to eschew deadly chemotherapy and surgery and follow a holistic approach. So far it's worked really well. Western medicine doesn't recognize it-- at least not in the U.S.; it's pretty widely accepted din Europe -- and my insurance company won't cover it at all. It'll be amusing to watch voodoo treatments and other practices outside the realm of science being covered though.

In the early 20th century, the church sought recognition from state regulators so the practitioners would not be prosecuted for practicing medicine without a license. Criminal courts have convicted Christian Scientists in cases where children have died after visiting prayer healers instead of receiving conventional medical care. The church says no such incidents have occurred for two decades.

About 90 years ago, private insurance companies began paying for Christian Science prayer treatments, but more recently, managed-care insurers declined reimbursements, insisting on paying for care that produced proven medical results.

The Internal Revenue Service allows the cost of the prayer sessions to be counted among itemized medical expenses for income tax purposes -- one of the only religious treatments explicitly identified as deductible by the IRS. Some federal medical insurance programs, including those for military families, also reimburse for prayer treatment.

The spiritual healing provision was introduced in the House by Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), whose district includes a Christian Science school, Principia College.

Two committees in the House voted to include the measure in their versions of the overhaul, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) stripped it from the consolidated House bill last week after a few members argued it was unconstitutional.

Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Irvine School of Law, said the provision raised serious questions about government support of religion.

"I think when Congress mandates that health companies provide coverage for prayer, it has the effect of the government advancing religion," he said.

Harry Reid, like Hatch, a Mormon, is still trying to decide whether or not to include this in the Senate bill. The "church" has a big time K Street lobbying firm, Mayer Brown (the 9th largest law firm in the U.S.), working on the Senate for them. Mayer Brown lobbying clients include shady operators like Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan Chase, AT&T, Chevron, Verizon, TPG Capital, Motorola, and, biggest of all their clients, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. This year Mayer Brown has given large donations to Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Peter Roskam (R-IL), and Ethan Hastert (R-IL).