As focused as I am on church-state news, it's hard to ignore the major topic of the day: health care reform. There are, actually, some peripheral issues related to religion and religious liberty in the Senate bill the House will vote on later today. If you want to peruse the entire 2400-page Senate bill (pdf), or the 153-page reconciliation package (pdf), have at it! (Best as I can tell – the language of such complex legislation can be tough to navigate – nothing in those changes the House is expected to initiate impact the references below from the Senate bill.)
Page 326 discusses the religious exemption to the requirement for individuals to obtain health insurance. A "Religious Conscience Exemption" is in place for an individual that:
is a member of a recognized religious sect or division thereof…and an adherent of established tenets or teachings of such sect or division.
Pages 327-8 describes the exemption for those in a "health-care sharing ministry", a non-profit entity:
[the] members of which share a common set of ethical or religious beliefs and share medical expenses among members in accordance with those beliefs and without regard to the State in which a member resides or is employed… members of which retain membership even after they develop a medical condition, …which (or a predecessor of which) has been in existence at all times since December 31, 1999, and medical expenses of its members have been shared continuously and without interruption since at least December 31, 1999, and… which conducts an annual audit which is performed by an independent certified public accounting firm in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and which is made available to the public upon request.
Page 601 authorizes the HHS Secretary to include "faith-based organizations" in the type of groups eligible for grants to be awarded for the purpose of teen pregnancy educational programs, in states that have not applied for block grants.
Page 1177 authorizes states receiving grants to educate Medicaid recipients to partner with faith-based organizations, among others, in that effort.
Page 1345 authorizes the Secretary of HHS to award grants to "institutions of higher education to support the recruitment of students for, and education and clinical experience of the students in…mental and behavioral health." It adds a caveat, however that to be eligible for such a grant, an institution's relevant program must include students from "different racial, ethnic, cultural, geographic, religious, linguistic, and class backgrounds."
In a portion of the bill known as the Elder Justice Act, and pertains to programs aimed at protecting the health interests of Americans age 60 and over, page 1772 ensures that such Americans' "right to practice his or her religion through reliance on prayer alone for healing" will not be abridged.
Page 2171 authorizes states providing intervention and social services for pregnant women who are the victims of domestic violence to use federal grant money to offer technical training and assistance to faith-based organizations, among others, that provide such services.
