oh,oh, it seems the like the loonier leftists are trying to sneak faith healing payments into health care reform. The Center for Inquiry is campaigning to get a “non-discrimination” provision taken out of the health care reform bills working their way through Congress. Why? Because they claim:

If the health care bills in Congress pass as they are currently written, a nondiscrimination clause will force all insurance plans that participate in the insurance exchange to cover treatments such as therapeutic touch, Christian Science prayer healing, or even Scientology E-meter readings, none of which have any proven medical benefits. This clause would also require both Medicare and any public option that to provide this coverage, providing for taxpayer and government funding of potentially religious treatments. If this happens, it would represent an egregious violation of the principle of separation of church and state.

So what does the provision actually say?

Sec. 125 of HR 3200 says:

Neither the Commissioner nor any health insurance issuer offering health insurance coverage through the Exchange shall discriminate in approving or covering a health care service on the basis of its religious or spiritual content if expenditures for such a health care service are allowable as a deduction under 213(d) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as in effect on January 1, 2009.

When you look up an explanation of Sec. 213(d) of the IRS code…

…you find it covers Medical Savings Accounts and what kinds of medical expenses can be deducted if paid for out of such an account. It explicitly includes Christian Science Practitioners and “healing services.” However scientology is currently non-deductible.

So if this provision stays in we will be paying for at least the Christian Scientist ‘Practitioners’ to pray over people and very possibly (inevitably I think if they allow any) other forms of ‘faith healing’ as well. Check out the Center for Inquiry site for more info or to add your voice to the email campaign.

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