Orrin Hatch Sponsors Pay For Prayer Provision - KSTU

Utah Senator Orrin Hatch is responsible for one of the most unexpected provisions of the Senate's Healthcare overhaul: language that encourages insurers to pay for spiritual care.

[Patrick]

Are you kidding me.. I would rather pay for someone who has a terminal illness before I would pay for a prayer. We need to put our money where it belongs and it does not belong in the church. This is just as bad as paying for Tithing. Leave this Praying in the church. We all know what the LDS has done to Utah with Prop 8 like they say we need to sperate State and Church. And you wonder why outsider all think we are strange, due to dumb ideas like this one.

[Kyle]

Patrick, Reading how poorly you write, it's hard to believe your opinion is worth anything. You should leave strong opinions like that to educated people.

[Steve]

I'm not sure exactly what they mean by "Spiritual Care" but I have always thought of it as some type of prayer. If I am correct prayer is a gift enabling us to communicate with God which gives us the opportunity to ask for things, like health. Christians believe God is our "Father in Heaven" so to me paying someone to pray for me would be like asking my dad for help and he tells me "It's going to cost you, does your insurance cover it?"

[Josh]

Such and eloquent rebuttal you bring to the table, Kyle, which has nothing to do with the topic. I believe Patrick has a strong point. This Provision is less than worthless. It is opening doors to areas we do not want to stepping into. This is stepping across the separation between church and state. The public's money does not need to be going toward something that has been shown to have no affect whatsoever on the recovery of patients.

[Doug Smith]

Having the Govt. involved in any way with health care is a scary thing in itself. I don't want MY money paying for someone elses medical problems that are not real problems, but spending my money to PREY for health !?!?
I don't want my money paying a senator for even thinking (did I say thinking? I mean entertaining)thoughts of faith (superstition) healig. Government health care is NOT a constitionally supported function, nor is religion.....
Let's stop ANY govt.health care, this is not NAZI Germany....

[localmom]

I applaud Senator Hatch's provision. Insurance should cover what people actually use and spend their money on and not everyone chooses traditional medicine to heal themselves. I know of several Christian Science healings, some for regular ailments and some things traditional medicine couldn't cure.

[Kelly]

Is it too cynical to think that Hatch is sponsoring this ridiculous idea just to make any kind of reform effort less likely to pass? If someone chooses to have prayer paid for, are they then eligible for ER care if they change their mind?

[madbeau]

This is crazy, How can we justify paying for praying when there are so many families that need medical care and can't get it now. I personally don't want to pay for someone praying when that should be done anyway if you are religious. I can't believe that this is even up for discussion when we need to support those who's families are dying and need the support. If they have extra money to spend then they should add more home health for those who are not able to leave thier homes or to mental health. I can't see this even being up for discussion in any other state then here. If Utah is trying better its image this in not the step into the right direction. Church and State is not one. They are suppose to be seperate that is what makes this the United States freedom to be who you are religion or not.

[scarletangel]

Isn't 10 percent enough?

[Charles]

I do not think this is unusual to have some staffed clergy. There can be value and there can be foolishness. We have seen allot of Gov. funded junk over the years. I rather close that loophole and not support some "spiritual" ceremonies that should be handled by the patients support group. There are plenty of people that will pray for you if you ask.
Also, I think the Nazis were against any sort of prayer.

[Drudgery]

I don't have any problem with paying for any procedure that is guaranteed to work. The problem is that conventional medicine does not always work. Alternative medicine does not always work. So if every loud voice in this country that is so enamored of business and capitalist systems, why not simply say that whatever procedure is used, has to come with an iron-clad warranty. If it doesn't work the patient or client or government gets their money back.

[Kris]

The representation of the provision given is this story is misleading. The provision is for holistic and alternative health care which has many applications, prayer being only one, many people routinely use vitamin supplements, massage, chiropractics and accupressure as part of healthcare plan. Who is Mr. Nehring to say what services have value and which do not. I for one would appreciate a choice.

[savethetigers]

has anyone heard of separation of church ans state? children and a lot of people have no insurance. You can't be serious.

[Doug Smith]

Kris - You can use vitamins, accupressure, prayer or anything you choose (freedom of choice which Americans now have). However you do not have the right to dip into MY pocket to pay for it.!!.
It's not whether or not they work. It's not for the govt (my money) to pay for it, You want it, You buy it..

[logically speaking]

Senator Hatch continues to show his contempt and total lack of empathy for those who cannot not afford nor quality for health insurance. Sticking a expensive and useless thorn in the side of the healthcare bill all the while knowing that he will oppose the final version, Hatch underlines the definition of vengeful narcissistic arrogance.

[Freedom]

This whole idea is an embarrassment! Why would an elected representative who opposes the communist/marxist/socialist plan be playing along by adding nutcase provisions like this? For private insurers to be required to pay for this not only increases rates, but involves the government in areas where they do NOT belong. This is an insult to conservative values and defies common sense. Where are you Senator? Prayer is for the individual who chooses to use it. Payment for prayer! What's next? Hire church choirs to sing to the sick using insurance monies? I wonder if there's a cap - can't pray for more than an hour?, or how about you're only covered for two prayers - you'll be on your own thereafter?
Here's an idea Senator...how about refusing to participate in this scheme to ruin our country? How about refusing to play this "provisions" game by not adding to the lunacy? Let the socialists own this "health care reform" business--they can take the fall for it.

[On the sidelines]

I understand from researching this that this provision is only three lines of a 2500-page health reform bill.$20-$40 for treatment? How cost effective can you get?

[LRD]

Not only does Christian Science healing work well, but if the only objection of Mr. Nehring is that it might cost too much, Christian Science practitioner fees are a few percent what medical care costs. Such care would save the patient and the government a huge amount of money if more people adopted it. Also, it has worked for over 100 years (as evidenced by, for example, low heath and life insurance premiums, if one does not want to believe even medical doctors that could testify to this). So one should know such facts before ex post facto stating that such treatment is ineffective (not true) and expensive (also not true). From my own experience spiritual healing is really the only kind of healing that really heals -- rather than just coping with a health problem, it really is healed when one gets their thinking right. This is not too difficult to understand, and if the source of right thinking is called God or Mind, why the objection?

[Jay]

"...services that don't have value are paid for."

Huh? Since when has prayer not added value to our lives? Or was this country not founded on prayer and Christian values? And how do you determine what is "valuable?" Seems a bit relative to me. Also, prayer is not Yoga. If you relied on Yoga instead of a medical practitioner I could see "value" in paying for Yoga treatment. Its not like these people are praying on top of having Joe the Taxpayer fork over $4500 for a surgery. They're depending on prayer...and frankly, its a helluva cheaper than a doctor. More power to them.

[Jay]

Freedom wrote:

This whole idea is an embarrassment! Why would an elected representative who opposes the communist/marxist/socialist plan be playing along by adding nutcase provisions like this? For private insurers to be required to pay for this not only increases rates, but involves the government in areas where they do NOT belong. This is an insult to conservative values and defies common sense. Where are you Senator? Prayer is for the individual who chooses to use it.

Indeed it is! As is medical treatment. Why should I not be covered under a healthcare plan that helps out everyone else who chooses to go the typical treatment route?

It happens to be a lot more affordable than the healthcare plan you're signing up for. In fact, at $20-$40 a treatment, I'll take that over a $5000 medical "experiement" anyday.

You know how many healthy Americans are dying in our hospitals every year? 195,000 from medical mistakes alone at a cost of over $6,000,000,000 (billion).

You can go ahead and join in that medical crusade, but please don't turn around and point fingers at someone who's asking to be covered for a $40 prayer treatment after they've been footing YOUR medical bills (Medicare, Medicaid, etc) for the last 20 years.