Religious Leaders Stand Up for Working Families in Health Reform
National Day of Action Focuses on Affordable Coverage for Low-Wage Working Families
Washington, D.C. — Prominent clergy and faith leaders from key states, including Maine, Nebraska, North Dakota, Colorado, Louisiana, Florida and Missouri, gathered on Capitol Hill today to pray and proclaim the moral case for improvements to health reform legislation that will make coverage affordable for lower-income families.
“We are here because we believe, as religious leaders, that the true measure of this legislation is whether it makes quality health care truly affordable for working families,” said Rev. Wallace Hartsfield, Pastor Emeritus of Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church in Kansas City, MO, and PICO clergy spokesperson.
The clergy and faith leaders who gathered outside the Capitol Building sent a clear message to Senate leaders inside who continued negotiations today to merge the chamber’s two reform bills. Religious leaders pointed to a recent report from Community Catalyst and PICO National Network for solutions to inadequacies of the Senate Finance Committee bill. (Full report is available here.)
“We want Senator Reid, Senator Baucus, and Senator Dodd to hear our plea: they must find the political courage to take on special interests to make Senate health care legislation more affordable for families, especially for low-wage workers who, under the Senate Finance legislation, would be required to buy coverage that costs too much and covers too little,” said Rev. Bill Calhoun, a Presbyterian minister from Denver, CO, and a spokesperson for PICO.
“The stakes right now are very high for families, especially for low-wage working families,” said Rev. Steve Beckham, pastor of First Little Rock Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, LA. “Under Senate Finance legislation, low-wage families in my state could be expected to pay double what the Senate HELP legislation would require that same family to pay. The details matter on affordability for families.”
Clergy leaders were joined by labor and consumer groups, including SEIU President Andy Stern and Community Catalyst Executive Director Robert Restuccia, in calling on Senate Leaders to fix Senate Finance legislation that would impose premiums and out-of-pocket costs that are unaffordable for low-wage working families.
“When we meet with Senator Nelson, we will tell him clearly: we want lower premiums and stronger caps on out-of-pocket costs for working families in Nebraska,” said Rev. Jane Florence, pastor at First United Methodist Church of Omaha, NE.
The press event was followed by an “Interfaith Service of Remembrance and Hope” at the National City Christian Church in Washington, DC. Rev. Stephen Gentle, senior pastor of National City Christian Church, who hosted the service, said, “We are gathering in this sacred space because… the 45,000 people who die each year are invisible… they are not statistics. They are mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, children, neighbors, and even co-workers.” In the service, bells were tolled for lives lost for lack of needed health care, and interfaithleaders shared the stories of those who fell through the cracks of a broken health care system. “We are called to remember them when we as a nation have not accepted our shared responsibility to provide healing and compassionate care for all,” said Rev. Gentle.
Both the press conference and the interfaith service were part of a larger faith-based day of action, with efforts organized nationwide by congregations and faith-based organizations, including PICO National Network, Faithful Reform in Health Care, Interfaith Worker Justice, Catholics United and the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
