Saint Athanasius Parish
June 1, 2008
Sr. Joan Marie Steadman, CSC

OUTLINE FOR PRESENTATION ON CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING
AND ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE

What Is Health Care?

• Commodity or Need
  
• Privilege or Right
  
• From the perspective of Catholic Social Teaching it is a need and a right.
  
  

What is the Current Situation?

• 46+ million lack insurance coverage
  
• 9+ million are children
  
• 8 out of 10 without insurance are in working families
  
• 18,000+ die yearly because they do not have adequate insurance
  
• Fewer firms offer health benefits (69% ---> 62%)
  
• Growing health costs stymie growth in earnings
  
• Insured families face substantial financial burdens
  (1 in 5 families underinsured)
  
• 17+ million underinsured
  
• Underinsurance places greatest burden on people who get sick.
  
  

Some of the Federal Programs

• Medicare
  
• Medicaid (Medi-Cal)
  
• SCHIP - for low income children who do not qualify for Medicaid
  
  

Principles of Catholic Social Teaching*

1. The social reality is not separated from the religious dimension of life; rather it must be transformed in light of the Gospel.
2. The dignity of the human person in a constant central theme.
3. All human persons have inalienable rights which must be respected and protected by the institutions of society.
4. The growing gap between the rich and the poor leads to an insistence on a preferential option for the poor.
5. Love of neighbor, a demand of the Gospel, implies action for justice.
6. Promotion of the common good is of primary importance.
7. Responsibility and decisions making at the level closest to local communities and institutions should be respected. (principle of subsidiarity)
8. Participation in the political processes of one’s country as a means of achieving the common good is encouraged.
9. Economic justice is vital, since the economy exists for the people’s betterment.
10. The world’s goods belong to all of the world’s people; all must share the earth’s resources.
11. There is a call for global solidarity.
12. There is a call for just peace among all men and women.

*Peter Henriot, Edward De Berri, Michael Scheltheis, Catholic Social Teaching: Our Best Kept Secret, Maryknoll, NY, Orbis Books, 1988, pp. 20-22.

Catholic Voices Speaking Out for Health Care Reform

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) states in the Document Health Care for All that “In the debate over health care insurance, the bishops will continue to use as their guide the “criteria for reform” from their Framework for Comprehensive Health Care Reform. Among the criteria for health care reform they will apply to policy proposals are:

Respect for Life – Whether it preserves and enhances human life from conception to natural death.

Priority Concern for the Poor – Whether it gives special priority to the health care
needs of the poor, ensuring that their health care is quality health care.

Universal Access to Comprehensive Benefits – Whether it provides universal and
comprehensive benefits sufficient to maintain and promote good health.

Pursing the Common Good and Preserving Pluralism – Whether it allows and encourages the involvement of all
sectors, in all aspects of health care, ensuring respect for the ethical and religious values of consumers and providers.”

Catholic Health Association (CHA)

• 2007 Cover the Uninsured Week was one of many collaborative efforts between CHA and USCCB
  
• 2008 Cover A Nation Initiative
  
  

Catholic Health Association (CHA) Vision for Health Care Reform

CHA Core Values Underlying Vision for Health Care Reform:

• Human dignity
  
• Concern for the poor & vulnerable Justice
• Common good
• Stewardship
• Pluralism
  

CHA Principles for Reform:

· Available and accessible to everyone, paying special attention to the poor and vulnerable

· Health and prevention oriented, with the goal of enhancing the health status of communities

· Sufficiently and fairly financed

· Transparent and consensus-driven in allocation of resources and organized for cost-effective care and administration

· Patient centered and designed to address health needs at all stages of life, from conception to natural death

· Safe, effective and designed to deliver the greatest possible quality

CHA Leadership for Health Care Reform:

· Continue to lead and work in collaboration focused on creating a health care system that works for everyone and promotes the health of the national community

· Facilitate the Catholic health ministry’s evaluation of health reform proposals

· Invite lawmakers and local leaders to participate in community dialogue on how best to approach systemic reform; engage the U.S. public in clarifying its vision for health care and facing the implications of values and priorities

What Can We Do? (From Health Care for All – USCCB)

Pray for the sick and vulnerable and those who have no access to health care

Learn about Catholic Social Teaching and how it applies to health care.

• Health and Health Care – 1981 USCCB
  
• A Framework for Comprehensive Health Care Reform – 1993 USCCB
  

Educate others about Catholic Social Teaching and the need for health care reform:

• Visit websites (see page 4 for suggestions) with information about health care in the U.S. and proposals to reform the health care system.
  
• Find out the challenges faced by the Catholic health care ministry in serving the poor.
  
• Make sure your community is aware that covering the uninsured remains a serious and growing problem.
  

Advocate improvements in the health care system.

Contact elected officials:

• Share the principles of Catholic Social Teaching on health care and the principles and priorities for assessing reform proposals.
  
• Urge federal and state legislators to take action to help uninsured Americans, and to start taking steps toward achieving affordable, accessible health care for all.

Keeping the USCCB Criteria and the CHA Core Values and Principles in mind you might ask these questions when evaluating proposals for health are reform.*

• Does the health care reform proposal:
  
• Provide coverage and access for all?
  
• Provide continuous protection and broad pooling of risk?
  
• Ensure personalized care and “continuous healing relationships,” especially for persons with special needs and those at the end of life?
• Ensure a uniform, core benefits for everyone?
  
• Optimize administrative efficiency and minimize administrative cost?
  
• Encourage personal responsibility for maintaining health?
  
• Share responsibility for and equitable financing of the system?
  
• Align payment to coordinate care, improve health status, and ensure
  
• Facilitate of the use of information to continuously improve quality, coordinate services, and maximize efficiency?
  
• Promote of wellness and prevention?
  

*Daniel G. Hale, Executive Vice President, Community Benefit and Public Affairs, Trinity Health

Watch what happens to the proposed Wyden/Bennett “Healthy Americans Act” – it might have the potential to be a positive, constructive approach to health care reform

1. Guarantees universal, private health insurance for all Americans.
2. Individuals, employers and government each invest something into the system.
3. Provides standard health care tax deductions for individuals and families.
4. Promises the level of care that Members of Congress enjoy at an affordable price.
5. Previous and existing health problems, occupation, genetic information, gender and age will no longer be allowed to impact eligibility or the price paid for insurance.
6. Gives insurance companies a financial incentive to keep their subscribers healthy.

Resources on Health Care Reform and Catholic Social Teaching

Information from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/hlthcareback.shtml

http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/citizentaskforce.shtml

http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/comphealth.shtml

http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/brochure1.pdf (brochure)

Catholic Health Association’s Vision for Health Care Reform

http://www.chausa.org/Pub/MainNav/ourcommitments/healthreform

http://www.chausa.org/Pub/MainNav/ourcommitments/healthreform/default.htm

Articles in Health Progress – the Magazine of the Catholic Health Association

http://www.chausa.org/Pub/MainNav/News/HP/Archive/2008/default.htm

http://www.chausa.org/Pub/MainNav/News/HP/Archive/2007/default.htm

Under the topic index, look at Health Care Reform, Advocacy, Covering a Nation and Social Justice. Under each of those topics many articles will be cited that you can access online. You can check the issues of Health Progress for many years.

Articles in The Valley Catholic – the Newspaper of the Diocese of San Jose

http://www.dsj.org/dsj/valleyissue.asp?id=29&story=1287

http://www.dsj.org/dsj/valleyissue.asp?id=40&story=1943

Information from Ascension Health System

http://www.ascensionhealth.org/ethics/public/issues/access.asp

Resources from Inter-Faith Groups Working on Health Care Reform

http://www.iccr.org/issues/healthcare

http://www.iccr.org/issues/healthcare/resources.php

http://www.iccr.org/publications

Resource from the Hastings Center

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/hastings_center_report/v038/38.1crowley.pdf

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