Will You Give Up Health Insurance For Your Catholic Faith?

[LuxChristi]

This is a question for American Catholics who currently have health insurance through a non-Catholic employer or who is on their parent’s health insurance which is through their non-Catholic employer:

[b]If the Respect for Conscience Act doesn't pass, will you give up your health insurance?[/b]

[b][u]Background:[/u][/b] As you know, the recent Health and Human Services Mandate announced January 20 affirms that all new health insurance plans effective on or after August 1 of this year will include contraception, abortion, and sterilization and the cost for these items will be paid for directly by everyone who has that health insurance. The Catholic Bishops have said faithful Catholics cannot offer or participate in these health plans (all over the news), as these new measures are intrinsically evil and contrary to our faith.

Therefore, since you have healthcare through a non-Catholic employer and they likely won’t dispute the new law, when you or your parents go through annual open enrollment for benefits at work this year (probably sometime after June or July), then the insurance plans will include these intrinsically evil contraception measures, and before the end of open enrollment your (or your parents) will have to make a free-will choice between these 2 options:[list=1]
[*]stand firm in your Catholic Faith, thus dropping the health insurance coverage with its intrinsically evil components, which means you won’t have health insurance coverage.
[*]or keep the insurance in which you will directly pay to support abortions, contraception, and sterilization, thus endangering your soul and impacting your ability to validly receive Holy Communion.
[/list]
Just wondering what people will do....

Edited February 1, 2012 by LuxChristi

[arfink]

[quote name='LuxChristi' timestamp='1328068165' post='2378757']
You will have to make a free-will choice between these 2 options:[list=1]
[*]stand firm in your Catholic Faith, thus dropping the health insurance coverage with its intrinsically evil components, which means you won’t have health insurance coverage.
[*]or keep the insurance in which you will directly pay to support abortions, contraception, and sterilization, thus endangering your soul and impacting your ability to validly receive Holy Communion.
[/list]
Just wondering what people will do....
[/quote]

Is this actually the case? Last time I checked you're not morally culpable for an action that is forced upon you. I suppose it's arguable that the penalty for not having any insurance at all is hardly an excuse worthy of reduction of culpability, but I'm not an expert on the matter.

However, here is my idea of the situation as it stands:

1- Paying money to fund an evil act is bad.
2- Paying for health insurance that covers contraception is funding an evil act.
3- Paying taxes in the US funds unjust wars, torturing inmates in Guantanamo, and other evil things, and is thus funding an evil act
4- We are required to pay taxes, but are not held to be morally accountable for this merely because the money is used for evil
5- Under Obamacare we are also required to buy health insurance.

Does this mean we're not morally accountable for paying taxes that fund evil actions, but are for buying state-mandated insurance (which is basically a tax) that funds evil actions?

In my case, I am currently insured under my parent's plan, and the decision is theirs to make, not mine. If they chose not to obtain coverage then I won't be seeking any of my own, though that would be for financial reasons first of all. I simply cannot afford to buy any health insurance right now

[MissyP89]

Guilt trip much?

[arfink]

It's my understanding that Catholic who do not stand up for their right to conscience and freedom of religion by their own free will are going to be culpable for that. But should we stand to fight and ultimately lose, I do not think that we are all damned for buying health insurance should we be in a situation to desperately need it.

EDIT: But to clarify I will also say this: should the HHS ruling stand and our lawmakers refuse to protect our freedom of religion, I will personally be perfectly willing to engage in some civil disobedience and not buy health insurance.

I may indeed be mistaken, and the matter may be far more serious than I am imagining it to be. It may indeed be the case that buying this corrupt health insurance is akin to the choice of offering incense to the Emperor or accepting death. But I for one desire a genuinely competent authority to be able to tell me whether this is so. If the American bishops or the pope want to ask me not to buy insurance then I'll definitely obey.

Edited February 1, 2012 by arfink

[StMichael]

Maybe we can create a Catholic exchange and circumvent the federal government altogether. 68 million plus cannot be ignored or thrown in jail.

[Adrestia]

I fail to see how giving up health insurance does anything. Most plans had already subsidized birth control pills to some extent. The government is wrong to try to force Catholic institutions to pay for it, but why should that make a Catholic employee at a non-Catholic institution go without insurance?

[cmaD2006]

In fact ... many companies pay a portion of the health insurance, so I can easily take the pov that they pay for that part which covers abortions, not me. As long as I don't use that part of my plan I don't feel guilty at all.

Finally I do say that we all need to speak up, but just dropping insurance doesn't help (especially those of us who do rely on that benefit)

[Marie-Therese]

I think that being derelict in my duty as a parent and failing to provide coverage for my child would be a much graver sin than my having an insurance policy which covers benefits that I would not and do not utilize. I am not employed by a Catholic institution and I am fairly sure that contraceptives are covered under my company's policy (not sure at all about abortion services, that's not spelled out in the policy language), which is the case for pretty much every insurer on the market today (save those exceptions like we're discussing with the policies structured for Catholic and other faith groups). Does that mean that every single insured individual in America, or elsewhere in the world, commits sin by having health insurance?

Ridiculous. The argument here is not over health insurance. It's over the government's ability to tell you, as an individual, what insurance you MUST have and what you MUST agree to provide, if you are the insurer, regardless of your religious objections. Go ahead and boycott insurance if it makes you feel better. Just make sure that you have a couple million in cash handy in case you get sick in the meantime. If you want a real fight, why not try fighting against a corrupt government who tries to tell you that they own you. Start there. That's the truth of the argument.

[Papist]

I will not be dropping my health insurance. I do not have health insurance b/c of its "reproductive health" benefits. I am sure the insurance companies don't what this mandate, or at least many of them.

There are many areas we can pose such questions. Such as, would you stop sending your child to school b/c the schools provide free condoms?

[Groo the Wanderer]

Secede!

[BG45]

As to the OP...I'm keeping my health insurance. I'm with those who say that the main issue is the government trying to enforce its will on individuals. I also agree with Papist that most insurance companies probably do not want the birth control mandate, because insurance in a way is a lot like gambling. We pay them a lot of money for them to hedge on the bet that we don't get sick and need them to pay; by forcing them to cover one of the most commonly prescribed substances in America, they're suffering a bite into any profits they garner from having additional clients that the government has forced to subscribe to their care.

[quote name='Papist' timestamp='1328098990' post='2378858']
Such as, would you stop sending your child to school b/c the schools provide free condoms?
[/quote]

Dude...this is Phatmass. Certain posters here believe that you should never send kids to public schools because they'll be indoctrinated in all sorts of ways. I know what you were getting at with the example, but I have the feeling some folks here really would say yes to that.

[ImageTrinity]

My understanding is that the Bishops object to Catholic schools and hospitals being required to provide insurance to employees that covers contraception and abortion. I don't think they are asking the laity to give up their insurance. Am I mistaken?

We will be keeping our insurance as we have a baby. We could not afford to pay out of pocket for his health care, and are morally responsible for his well-being.

[Papist]

[quote name='BG45' timestamp='1328101132' post='2378869']
As to the OP...I'm keeping my health insurance. I'm with those who say that the main issue is the government trying to enforce its will on individuals. I also agree with Papist that most insurance companies probably do not want the birth control mandate, because insurance in a way is a lot like gambling. We pay them a lot of money for them to hedge on the bet that we don't get sick and need them to pay; by forcing them to cover one of the most commonly prescribed substances in America, they're suffering a bite into any profits they garner from having additional clients that the government has forced to subscribe to their care.



Dude...this is Phatmass. Certain posters here believe that you should never send kids to public schools because they'll be indoctrinated in all sorts of ways. I know what you were getting at with the example, but I have the feeling some folks here really would say yes to that.
[/quote]

That is one of many reasons why my wife and I are choosing to homeschool. However, there are families that do not have that option, and neither the private school option. e.g. my brother.

[Immanuel]

[quote name='Marie-Therese' timestamp='1328083945' post='2378844']
I think that being derelict in my duty as a parent and failing to provide coverage for my child would be a much graver sin than my having an insurance policy which covers benefits that I would not and do not utilize. I am not employed by a Catholic institution and I am fairly sure that contraceptives are covered under my company's policy (not sure at all about abortion services, that's not spelled out in the policy language), which is the case for pretty much every insurer on the market today (save those exceptions like we're discussing with the policies structured for Catholic and other faith groups). Does that mean that every single insured individual in America, or elsewhere in the world, commits sin by having health insurance?

Ridiculous. The argument here is not over health insurance. It's over the government's ability to tell you, as an individual, what insurance you MUST have and what you MUST agree to provide, if you are the insurer, regardless of your religious objections. Go ahead and boycott insurance if it makes you feel better. [b]Just make sure that you have a couple million in cash handy in case you get sick in the meantime. [/b] If you want a real fight, why not try fighting against a corrupt government who tries to tell you that they own you. Start there. That's the truth of the argument.
[/quote]
I couple of million in handy cash is NO LIE!! My spouse was diagnosed with leukemia at an early age and the cost is astronomical.
I can not be without insurance. I just think that insurance should not be tied to one's employment. Because of our situation, I will be "forever" working for the insurance.

[arfink]

See, this is basically what I wanted to know. Thanks guys.