All eyes are now on the Senate as they start to actually put the concept of their healthcare bill into writing and get it to the floor for a vote.
After a contentious weekend of backroom deals and arm-twisting meetings on the House side, issues are emerging that will certainly have to be addressed in the Senate. Of course, abortion funding is one of them but rights of conscience and patient-doctor relationships, especially as it pertains to the public option, should not be be overlooked.
The debate on healthcare legislation has almost completely missed the impact to doctors and other medical professionals. It’s all good and well to talk about access and affordability but really, what does that mean for the doctors who will be caring for the patients?
A lot.
From a Catholic perspective, there are 624 Catholic hospitals in the US and 1 out of every 6 patients nationally is cared for in a Catholic hospital; this doesn’t even take into account all of the other faith-based hospitals and clinics out there.
Why does this matter? Because if the Senate (and, in the end, the final healthcare bill) fails to adopt strong conscience protections for doctors, there will be a much more serious case of accessibility than their currently is in this country.
The question will have to be asked – What good will it do if everyone is insured but can’t get access to doctors and good care?
Conscience protections are basic First Amendment rights that protect doctors and other healthcare professionals from being forced to engage in or refer their patients to medical procedures or practices that they are morally opposed to (e.g. abortion, physician-assisted suicide, etc.). It is unconceivable that the US would not afford these basic protections to our nation’s doctors but amendments on both the House & Senate have been voted down that would have strongly done so.
Back to access. Freedom2Care did both a poll and a survey recently that confirmed that Americans want doctors to have conscience protections and that 95% of faith-based physicians would quit their practices rather than be forced to do a procedure to which they opposed on moral grounds.
95%! That could amount to thousands and thousands of doctors across the country that would be forced to close – and just at a time when millions of new patients, with government-funded healthcare, would be flooding the system. And what about the Catholic hospitals? Would the Obama Administration force them to close if they refuse to do abortions? Where would patients go who need care and can’t get it because so many doctors have left the practice under moral grounds?
We have to stay vigilant and keep up the pressure, especially in the Senate, to make sure that strong conscience protections are put in the bill.
