from Sojourners...

Dear bart, While talk show hosts spread fear of reform, Americans are going broke from health-care costs. Tell Bill O'Reilly to tell the truth about health-care reform. It’s good that some of America’s most conservative talking heads are hearing from people of faith. On a recent episode of The O’Reilly Factor [1], Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of NETWORK, a Catholic social justice lobby, did some truth-telling: "I think what Jesus says over and over again, both in our lives and in the scriptures, is that it's our responsibility to make sure that the least are cared for. And that it is a societal responsibility. Therefore, we must as a nation make sure that everyone has access to health care." Bill O’Reilly’s response, however, was out of touch and misleading: “There are a number of ways to do that and I support the clinic way, whereby the federal government could have clinics in almost every county in the country that do provide services for the poor. However, if the government takes over health care ... and begins to tell people when they can live and when they can die, and the country goes bankrupt in the process ... more people will be harmed, including poor people.” Be another voice of faith setting Bill O’Reilly straight about health-care reform. Does Bill really think that the health-care crisis is only a problem for poor people? Or that clinics alone are a real solution? While his band-aid suggestions and scare tactics obscure the issue, the health-care crisis is making people poor as costs skyrocket - even for those with coverage. Even those who may lose business as a result of reform know that, in the health-care crisis, it’s the current system that’s bankrupting America - one citizen at a time: I'm a bankruptcy lawyer, so I'm in one of the two groups that will be hurt by real health-care reform (insurance companies being the other). About a third of my clients are in bankruptcy due to medical bills (another third have some medical bills, but it's not what pushed them over the edge). Almost all of them thought their health insurance would cover the problems they had. Many had gone to great lengths ahead of time to make sure their treatment would be covered, only to find out after the fact that their insurance company wouldn't pay. They've heard every excuse in the book (or in the fine print of the policy): experimental treatment, lifetime cap, high deductible, missed deadlines, lack of notification, pre-existing condition, and so on. To me, the worst part of the American health-care financing system is that you can't tell what your treatment will cost. I know folks who have flown to Pakistan to have operations they couldn't get in the U.S. because nobody in the U.S. (unlike Pakistan!) would agree in writing ahead of time what it would cost them. [2, emphasis added] Tell Bill O’Reilly that all Americans - rich and poor, with and without insurance - need real reform now. Bill doesn’t trust the government to provide his own health care, but he thinks it’s good enough to provide clinics for the poor. We need comprehensive reform for all Americans, not just band-aids for people in poverty. No person in America should go bankrupt because they cannot afford needed medical care. The major proposals for health-care reform would prohibit insurance companies from placing an annual or lifetime limit to the amount of coverage a person can receive, and would limit the amount that can be charged in out-of-pocket deductibles. No person should have to fight serious illness and bankruptcy at the same time. The issue is not, as O’Reilly says, the government going bankrupt - it is hundreds of thousands of Americans going bankrupt. Bill O’Reilly has shown that he’s willing to listen to voices of faith when it comes to health-care reform. Add your voice to the chorus of those calling for truth-telling on this vital issue. Click here to take action today. Shalom, Ryan, Elizabeth, Duane, and the team at Sojourners ---- 1) The O'Reilly Factor, 8/19/2009 2) Source: "The View From Your Sickbed," a reader’s letter to "The Daily Dish," The Atlantic online, 8/10/2009