USCCB Action Alert 7/9/09

 Celebrate Independence Day and

Help Reform Health Care

To view this Action alert on the USCCB website, go to: http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/2009-07-02-alert-health-care.pdf 

“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

U.S. Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

 

 

 

 

 

The famous phrase is based on the writings of English writer John Locke, who expressed that “no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.”

 

 

“Our approach to health care is shaped by a simple but fundamental principle: ‘Every person has a right to adequate health care. This right flows from the sanctity of human life and the dignity that belongs to all human persons, who are made in the image of God.’”

 

 

U.S. Catholic Bishops, A Framework for Comprehensive Health Care Reform: Protecting Human Life, Promoting Human Dignity, Pursuing the Common Good (1993)

 

 

Catholic Social Teaching and Health Care

In our Catholic tradition, health care is a basic human right. Access to health care should not depend on where a person works, how much a family earns, or where a person lives. Instead, every person, created in the image and likeness of God, has a right to life and to those things necessary to sustain life, including affordable, quality health care. This teaching is rooted in the biblical call to heal the sick and to serve “the least of these,” our concern for human life and dignity, and the principle of the common good. Unfortunately, tens of millions of Americans do not have health insurance. According to the Catholic bishops of the United States, the current health care system is in need of fundamental reform. To learn about Catholic teaching on health care in more detail, read the full statement by the United States Catholic Bishops, A Framework for Comprehensive Health Care Reform, at

usccb.org/sdwp/national/comphealth.shtml.  

 

 

 

Brief Update:

 

 

Congress has begun considering health care reform legislation. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) Committee is marking up a bill and is considering amendments. The Tri-Committee (the House Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor Committees) introduced a bill, held hearings, and is expected to begin marking up the bill soon. The Senate Finance Committee is expected to introduce bi-partisan health care reform bill any day. Your help is needed during the July 4th recess to tell your congresspersons what to include in—and keep out of—health care reform.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Help Reform Health Care

 

 

 

 

How YouCan Respond 

 

 

 

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Meet with your members of Congress at home over the 4th of July recess or call Members on July 7 and 8 (find your Representative and Senators at house.gov and senate.gov; Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121) and tell them health care reform should:

     ⇒ Include health care coverage for all people from conception until natural death, and continue the federal ban on funding for abortions;

     ⇒ Include access for all with a special concern for the poor;

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Pursue the common good and preserve pluralism, including freedom of conscience; and

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Restrain costs and apply costs equitably among payers.

 

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Partner with a local group funded by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), a Catholic Charities affiliate, or a local Catholic Health Association (CHA) member that is working on health care reform. Also view CHA’s new video, “I Can’t Wait for Health Care Reform,” at www.chausa.org

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Visit the JPHD Resources on Health Care Reform page for:

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Statement of Bishop William Murphy, Chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee

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Church teaching on health care reform

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Backgrounder on health care reform

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Prayer and Liturgy resources. Access these resources at: usccb.org/sdwp/national/health1.shtml.

 

 

Facts about the Uninsured

 

• One out of three Americans under the age of 65 went without health insurance for some period of time during 2007 and 2008. Of these, four out of five were from working families.

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Sixty-four percent of the uninsured are employed full-time, year-round.

• An estimated 14,000 persons a day are now losing coverage as a result of the recession. 2

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The poor are more likely to be uninsured. Thirty-four percent of non-elderly persons below the poverty line are uninsured, compared to twenty-one percent of non-elderly persons earning two to three times the poverty line.  (6)

Sources: 1, 3, 5 U.S. Census Bureau, 2008; 2 Center for American Progress, 2009; 6 Employee Benefit Research Institute estimates from the March Current Population Survey, 2007 Supplement.

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usccb.org/sdwp/takeaction.shtml

 

 

 

Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development

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· Washington, DC 20017 · (202)541-3180 · usccb.org/jphd

 

· Washington, DC 20017 · (202)541-3180 · usccb.org/jphd

 

· Washington, DC 20017 · (202)541-3180 · usccb.org/jphd