You're Going to Love This!

(cross-posted from Ronni's Rants)

Ronni Bennett posted an entry yesterday entitled, Religion's Intrusion into Health Care Reform. From the article:

Last week, I was surprised, shocked even, to discover that two of the three bills that will be merged into one in the Senate would raise faith healing to the level of clinical medicine.

The provision would prohibit discrimination against “religious and spiritual health care” and would require insurers to consider covering such non-medical procedures as prayer treatments such as those used in the Christian Science Church.

Can you believe this crap? I thought restricting coverage for abortion was bad...but this is outrageous!

She goes on:

To my further surprise, there is additional precedent for government sanction of prayer as medical treatment. According to the same Los Angeles Times story:

”The Internal Revenue Service allows the cost of the prayer sessions to be counted among itemized medical expenses for income tax purposes - one of the only (sic) religious treatments explicitly identified as deductible by the IRS. Some federal medical insurance programs, including those for military families, also reimburse for prayer treatment.”

In other words, you and I and all taxpayers are being forced to make donations with our tax dollars to support religious organizations with which we have no affiliation to practice woo-woo medicine.

People should do all the praying they want, but not paid for with federal money. If this provision is allowed to stand in the health care reform bill that eventually emerges from Congress, what can stop anyone from declaring their religious practice to be on a par with science-based health care and demanding reimbursement?

This is pure craziness! Our taxes are paying for prayers, disguised as medical treatment! And now they want to allow medical insurance to cover prayers, as well.

I am way beyond the nails and rust thing...I am sputtering!

What's next? Prescriptions for Holy Water?

ETA: A thought: As laughter is acknowledged to be the best medicine, perhaps medical insurance could cover tickets to see Larry the Cable Guy?