Bishops Against Universal Health Care

Bishops have been speaking out against universal health care. Some of the Catholic media has been presenting the view that the United Stated Council of Catholic Bishops entirely supports public health care, but this is now being show as false. In a posting on the Catholic Key Blog Archbishop Joseph Naumann of the Kansas City, Kan., archdiocese and Bishop Robert Finn of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese said: “The right of every individual to access health care does not necessarily suppose an obligation on the part of the government to provide it.” They continued to say “when the individual has a personal, monetary stake or a financial obligation to pay even a portion of the cost of medical care, prudence comes to bear — with greater consistency — on such decisions, and unnecessary costs are minimized.” In another recent statement Bishop R. Walker Nickless of Sioux City, Iowa wrote: “the Catholic Church does not teach that ‘health care’ as such, without distinction, is a natural right.” The Catholic Church does not have a teaching that states that all people are entitled to have free health care… it is that all people are to be treated with dignity. The distortion of recent papal writings and the socialist agenda that has been promoted is not Church teachings. Kansas City

Catholic Femina Speaks: I am very happy that this error has been corrected… not all bishops want universal healthcare. It will hurt many people and promote the culture of death. People who read this must understand that all people are entitled to dignity, but that is not an over-reaching statement that contrives to forcibly tax the wealthy to pay for the poor. In other words Catholics are already providing health care through Catholic Charities and other organizations without government interference. Our pro-choice, pro-euthanasia, culture of death government will not promote the dignity of humanity and these bishops know it. They are not promoting the government health care because it is not a means to help people but a ploy to further the Obama agenda.