Catholic bishops pan Senate health bill

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- The nation's Catholic bishops Friday called the U.S. Senate healthcare reform bill an "enormous disappointment."

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a letter urging the Senate to amend the bill along the lines of the House version and keep in place the ban on taxpayer-funded elective abortions, protect access to healthcare for immigrants and ensure affordability.

"We believe healthcare legislation must respect the consciences of providers, taxpayers and others, not violate them," the bishops wrote. "We believe universal coverage should be truly universal, not deny healthcare to those in need because of their condition, age, where they come from or when they arrive here. Providing affordable and accessible healthcare that clearly reflects these fundamental principles is a public good, moral imperative and urgent national priority.

"Sadly, the legislative proposal recently unveiled in the Senate does not meet these moral criteria. Specifically, it violates the longstanding federal policy against the use of federal funds for elective abortions and health plans that include such abortions. ... We believe legislation that violates this moral principle is not true healthcare reform and must be amended to reflect it.

"On these various issues the new Senate bill is an enormous disappointment, creating new and completely unacceptable federal policy that endangers human life and rights of conscience."

The Catholic clerics also said the Senate bill would still leave more than 24 million people without coverage.

"This is not acceptable," they said.