Thanks to regular commenter Drew for sending this item in.
WASHINGTON - The calls come in at all hours: patients reporting broken bones, violent coughs, deep depression.
Prue Lewis listens as they explain their symptoms. Then Lewis simply says, "I'll go to work right away." She hangs up, organizes her thoughts and begins treating her clients' ailments the best way she knows how: She prays.
This is health care in the world of Christian Science, where the sick eschew conventional medicine and turn to God for healing. Christian Scientists call it "spiritual health care," and it is a practice they are battling to insert into the health-care legislation being hammered out in Congress.
Leaders of the Church of Christ, Scientist, are pushing a proposal that would help patients pay someone like Lewis for prayer by having insurers reimburse the $20 to $40 cost.
The provision was stripped from the bill the House passed this month, and church leaders are trying to get it inserted into the Senate version. And the church has powerful allies there, including Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., who represents the state where the church is based, and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who said the provision would "ensure that health-care reform law does not discriminate against any religion."
5 comments:
How astounding. It is one of the wonders of the church.
What a scam! It costs $20-$40 to pray??? You want to do that, fine, but don't add it to my tax burden or inflate medical charges to include it. If you want to pray, go for it...it's FREE. Seems to me, most people pray mostly when they need something, and the worse the situtation the more they pray, a last ditch effort to hope the impossible or unlikely happen. This is called WISHING for those of us who are non-believers. But how that relates to health care reform is a mystery. Oh, I forgot, religion is all about mystery....
Did I mention it was one of the wonders of the church?
Isn't a treatment supposed to have proven medical value before it can be considered legitimate healthcare?
I'm interested to see the independent double blind studies for prayer therapy!
Won't work, Mel. They will be healed and will see again!
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