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Health reform bill to pay for 'prayer treatments'?
By: Mark Hemingway
Commentary Staff Writer
11/03/09 4:15 PM EST
The Los Angeles Times reports:
A little-noticed provision in the healthcare overhaul bill would require insurers to consider covering Christian Science prayer treatments as medical expenses.
The provision was inserted by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) with the support of Democratic Sens. John F. Kerry and the late Edward M. Kennedy, both of Massachusetts, home to the headquarters of the Church of Christ, Scientist.
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."
While working to make sure religious rights are respected is a noble goal, this provision seems to be one putting one foot down a very slippery slope. If "religious and spiritual healthcare" is acknowledged as being equally valid as modern medicine, pretty soon taxpayers will be paying for health care that looks an awful lot like this:
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