Health Care Conscience

So here is our upcoming dilemma.  Buy health "care" coverage and pay for someone else's birth control, sterilization, abortion, etcetera, or refuse to participate in any coverage and pay hefty fines.  Not only are individual Catholics being forced to make this choice, but so are Catholic employers.  Which means bishops.  Which means finally we are hearing about this from the pulpit.  I am not going to ask why this was not such an issue when only individual Catholic faithful were going to be affected.  I am just glad to hear it finally being addressed.

I don't know what the big boys are going to do, but for us little guys, the ones in the pews, who do not have insurance provided by our jobs, cannot afford to purchase our own plan, and do not want to go on the government provided "pofolks" plan, what are the options?  Are there any?

My understanding of the health "care" reform law is that everyone is required to have a "health plan".  This means no more cash-as-you-go negotiations with your doctor.  But does it also preclude "no-insurance" doctors and clinics, sliding scale clinics, and programs such as Samaritan Ministries and Medishare? (see links below)

I want options.  I don't want to be forced into a "health plan" I can't afford, or that goes against my conscience.  I don't want to be forced into a government program which may require me to have procedures or medications I don't want or that go against my conscience.  Or on the flip side, which may deny me procedures or medications which I need.  Our "health care reform" continues to need reform.  It is not good enough to be law yet.  It must be repealed, reworked, and resubmitted for our approval before it is forced upon us.

Yes, I will include the intention to repeal the health care law in my rosaries.  I will fast on Fridays for this intention and ask Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception to intercede for us as well, as our bishop has requested.

In the meantime I will also investigate these other options, as I would like to find some kind of health care that works for me anyway.  I also pray that perhaps our own Catholic Church (gasp) might come up with a plan for individual Catholics to receive affordable, acceptable health care.  After all, haven't our last 2 popes been preaching that to us for years?  Certainly this is not just the responsibility of the government.  Maybe our "Catholic" hospitals can be of greater service to --- Catholics?  Just thoughts.

And some links to investigate.

No Insurance Doctors
For a monthly (very low) fee, all the basics, but you need to find a doc in your area.
https://www.noinsuranceclub.com/index.cfm

Samaritan Ministries
Monthly contribution based on family size and income.  Distributed among members according to need.  Submit any doctor/hospital bill above regular doctor's visit.
http://www.samaritanministries.org/

Christian Care Medishare
Similar to above.
http://mychristiancare.org/Medi-Share/

mdvip
Still trying to figure this one out.  Appears to be a monthly fee type for basic care, but having a time getting details.  Have not answered my email yet.
http://www.mdvip.com/patient/default.aspx

The Sunday There Was No Mass

We live in a very rural area.  We were actually considered a "mission" church for many years before the Diocese restructured all the churches into independent entities.  For a while we didn't even have a priest assigned to us. 

Finally the Bishop decided to combine us with two other "local" churches and assign one priest to all three.  So our parish priest travels over 100 miles every Sunday to celebrate the Eucharist with three different communities.  Not to mention a "daily" Mass once a week, confessions, weddings, baptisms, etc., in each community.

So when a late winter storm struck last week and dropped a foot of snow on us, the middle church, on an early Saturday morning, we knew Father had alot more snow up at his higher altitude.  Snow continued off and on all day, with intermittent thawing, enough to wet the roads for ice overnight.  Sunday morning, the roads were closed due to multiple accidents and there was no route open for him to get to us to say Mass.  Inevitably, that Sunday the church was packed.  There is no deacon in our community, and without dispensation from the Bishop, we could not have a communion service.  We did, however, sing and have the Liturgy of the Word.  We then made a spiritual communion before leaving.

Afterwards, we had a food sale in the hall, and one generous patron made a large donation so that any who could not afford to buy could still eat.  It almost felt like what the early church must have been like.  But it also felt suspiciously Protestant.  Without the Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist, I left with a longing and a hunger not satisfied.  I also missed the usual rituals.  I love the entire process of the Mass, from the processing in, the readings, the shared profession of faith, offering the gifts, consecration, Holy Communion, and final blessing.  When I was away from the Church, this is what I missed.  Since I have come back, I don't want to be without it.  To receive Jesus, fully, into my body and soul; to have His grace well up inside me and overflow all around me, this I long for.  This I desire most of all.  I continue to pursue it and can never get enough.  I am weak and human, and utterly fallable.  I need His strength to attempt to live fully.

In our area we get this reminder several times a year when Father is sick, or the weather prevents him from coming to say Mass.  How fortunate and grateful we are that we do have a priest to come and say Mass on Sunday, even one extra day a week.  With the shortage of vocations and a culture that despises celibacy, we may someday soon have to drive a great distance to get to Mass.  What a tragedy indeed, if the odd Sunday was the one that we did have Mass.

Shepherd of the Church

Bishop Thomas Olmstead, of Phoenix, Arizona, has come under alot of fire in the seven years he has been here.  The latest is an uproar over his revocation of St. Joseph's Hospital's Catholic status.  Yet, what else could he do but stand up for and insist upon Catholic moral principles at a Catholic hospital.  Catholic Healthcare West, the administrators of the hospital, purport to subscribe to the "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Healthcare Services", set forth in its fourth edition, by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2001, which plainly states in Part Four, directive number 45, that "abortion...is never permitted".  In this case, the abortion was performed on a pregnant woman with pulmonary hypertension.  Doctors predicted that she had a "100% chance" of dying of this complication of pregnancy before the baby was born.  We all know how accurate doctors "predictions" can be.  I don't intend to debate that particular issue. 

My intention is to uphold and thank Bishop Olmstead for being a true Shepherd of the Catholic Church in an era of political correctness and lukewarm Catholicism.  For saying the rosary out in front of abortion clinics every week in all kinds of weather.  For making the Sacramental Marriage Preparation process harder, instead of making the annulment process easier.  For speaking and writing to politicians who want to be identified as Catholic, and telling them that they need to embody and protect Catholic morality if they want to do so.   We need this kind of example from our leaders, religious as well as secular.

Of course, the bishop has done some things that I disagree with.  But those deal more with administrative issues. As Paige Byrne Shortal mentions in her excellent column in this month's Ligourian Magazine, "The Word in Our World", Catholic "bishops and pastors are cast into roles of corporate CEOs rather than enlightened gurus".  And this is much of what inspired me to start this blog.  My deep, abiding love of the Catholic faith, and Catholic tradition, versus my abhorrence for administrative nonsense.