President Barack Obama told Catholic healthcare workers that they were the inspiration behind Obamacare, the administration’s health insurance overhaul that was opposed by the bishops’ conference because it required employers to provide birth control coverage.
President Obama told the Catholic Hospital Association Conference at the Washington Marriott in Washington DC that the Catholic Health Association, which represents more than 1,200 Catholic health care sponsors, systems, and services, was a “moral force” that served the vulnerable, sick, marginalised and uninsured.
“That belief is at the heart of why we came together more than five years ago to reform our health care system - to guarantee that every American has access to quality, affordable care,” he said, in reference to the Affordable Health Care Act.
The country’s bishops’ conference historically opposed the mandate because they said it would cause Catholic ministries to “fund and/or facilitate” objectionable contraceptive coverage.
“We would not have succeeded had it not been for you and the foundation you had laid,” President Obama said yesterday.
In his opening remarks the President paid tribute to the work of the Catholic Health Association, and to the work of nuns in particular. “It’s true, I just love nuns, generally,” he said.
He recalled his first job in Chicago, where he moved after college to work as a community organiser, which he said was funded by the Catholic anti-poverty initiative Campaign for Human development.
“I saw how kindness and compassion and faith can change the arc of people’s lives. And I saw the power of faith - a shared belief that every human being, made in the image of God, deserves to live in dignity; that all children, no matter who they are or where they come from or how much money they were born into, ought to have the opportunity to achieve their God-given potential,” he said.
He went on to quote Pope Francis, saying that all were called “to satisfy the demands of justice, fairness, and respect for every human being.”
Above: US President Barack Obama speaks during the Catholic Health Association's annual assembly in Washington. Photo: CNS photo/Bob Roller
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