U.S. Abandons Aid to Church Caregivers
WASHINGTON — In an unusual move, the Justice Department is telling Congress it no longer will defend in court a federal law that allows Medicare and Medicaid payments to Christian Science care-givers.
A federal judge in Minnesota ruled in August that such payments, allowed since the mid-1960s, violate the constitutional separation of church and state.
In a letter to the Senate legal counsel, Atty. Gen. Janet Reno said current legal precedent does not allow the government to provide “special benefits†to members of one religious group. The Constitution’s 1st Amendment bans any government establishment of religion.
The Medicare and Medicaid payments were challenged in court by a group called Children’s Healthcare Is a Legal Duty, based in Sioux City, Iowa.
“The taxpayers’ money should not be given to unlicensed, untrained providers whose services are designed to promote a particular church theology,†said the group’s president, Rita Swan, a former Christian Scientist. Her 16-month-old son died in 1977 of meningitis after he was treated with prayer only.
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, teaches that prayer is the most effective treatment for illness and that conventional medicine is incompatible with spiritual healing.
Although Christian Science care-givers use no drugs or conventional medical treatments, they have received millions of dollars in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.
Church officials say the Medicare and Medicaid money pays for general nonmedical care--such as bandages, bedpans and comfort--and not prayer.
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