Showing posts with label Catholic Health Association. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Catholic Health Association. Show all posts

Obamacare Effects: Three Catholic Hospitals Closing in Scranton & the Power of a Social Justice Nun


There has been much controversy surrounding the closing and sale of three Catholic hospitals in Scranton, Pa. The controversy includes: Kevin Cook - Mercy Health Partners CEO, three different statements, two Catholic Representatives, the Affordable Care Act - A.K.A. - Obamacare, and Obama’s nun.


- In Review

Sr. Carol Keehan, Obama’s nun, is the nun who dissented from Bishops and threw her weight to support Obamacare. She is the nun who used her clout as head of the CHA, falsely claimed that abortion wasn’t covered in Obamacare, and provided “legitimacy” for Bart Stupak and the rest of the so called pro-life Democrats to support and vote for Obamacare even though there were and still are no safeguards protecting against abortion coverage and federal funding in Obamacare.  The Congressional Research Report Confirms this. She wanted us, as Catholics to trust our government over our Bishops’ prudential judgment on a matter related to morals. That sounds so nonsensical. Misplaced trust?

For anyone to think that our government is going to do the right thing in matters of faith and morals, look out for you and me, is complete and utter naivete when our government has sanctioned the murders of countless innocents since Roe v. Wade was enacted in 1973.

When Sr. Carol Keehan became a religious sister she took a vow of obedience and in fact has more of an obligation than ordinary laity to heed the Bishops’ prudential judgment with relation to abortion and Obamacare. Since the Church Teaching is that abortion is an intrinsic evil is Catholic Dogma has Sr. Keehan broken her vow of obedience by dissenting from the Bishops in order to support Obamacare?

The common good must not be pursued at the expense of the morally reprehensible murders of innocent human lives.

In his first statement Kevin Cook stated, "Health care reform is absolutely playing a role. Was it the precipitating factor in this decision? No, but was it a factor in our planning over the next five years? Absolutely."

Notice that Cook stated “absolutely” twice.

48 hours later Cook said, sale discussions were happening "long before the passage of the Affordable Care Act. The decision was due to many factors."

Perhaps, there was something occurring behind the scenes?

That same day Sr. Carol Keehan made this statement, "Reports that health reform is the primary motive behind the sale are completely false, misleading and politically motivated. Deliberations to sell the facilities began well before the Affordable Care Act became law and did not hinge on enactment of the legislation."

Okay… Like she isn’t politically motivated to ensure her support for Obamacare isn’t for naught.

Then about a couple days later Cook announced: “Mercy Health Partners recently announced our intention to explore the sale of our facilities in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The rationale for our initiative has been mischaracterized by certain politicized media outlets and severely distorted by some special interest groups.”

Coincidental? Or Coordinated?

Perhaps, there was something occurring behind the scenes?

Would a social justice political activist nun misuse her power as CEO of the CHA to silence the truth in both instances, with Obamacare and with Obamacare playing a pivotal role in the closings of three Catholic hospitals? Did this Left wing activist nun “lower the boom” on Kevin Cook and force him to change his tune in those last two statements? Well, it kinda looks that way.

Oh - how could one forget? Since she bucked both the Bishops and the Catholic faith and instead staunchly supported Obama and his health care bill she was rewarded with one of the 21 pens that Obama used to signed the health care law. What a trade -- fidelity to Church teaching and to her vows sacrificed for fame, power, recognition, and on top of all that, a pen.

From The American Spectator - “One doctor in Scranton -- who was deeply disturbed by the announcement -- is certain he knows the answer. That answer? Mr. Cook was absolutely right the very first time he spoke to WNEP on camera. Hospitals, said this doctor -- frequently run a debt. "What's different? Why now?" he said in terms of the rationale for selling the Mercy hospitals. The reason is exactly as CEO Cook originally said it was. ObamaCare cuts in Medicare reimbursement have changed the rules so drastically for hospitals "you [Mercy Health Partners] are in an untenable situation," said this physician. Most hospitals have accumulating debt because of capital investments, says the doctor. But they can't deal with that debt if in fact their ability to earn money is cut off or drastically reduced over time.

Alarmingly, the doctor, with a lifetime of practice in hand, says that "hospitals close in clusters where there is decreased income in terms of relatively low Medicare reimbursement…because they are the most vulnerable." He adds that what is happening in Scranton, Nanticoke, and Tunkhannock with the Mercy hospitals "is just the beginning. It will happen everywhere because reimbursements will be reduced" under ObamaCare. Particularly, he adds, in areas where you have a high elderly population.”

‘The explosion, all recent with its implications of White House pressure and lost Catholic hospitals, is about to bring in media ads from CatholicVote.org. Says Communications Director Joshua Mercer: "Paul Kanjorski and Chris Carney are Catholic and they both voted for ObamaCare." Citing the sale of the three Mercy hospitals, Mercer says that the pro-ObamaCare votes of the two "has had a real impact on the community." Mercer added a sentiment voiced as well by the Scranton doctor: "There are a lot of Kevin Cooks across the country…the CEO's of small Catholic hospitals are all facing the same realities of more [ObamaCare] mandates and regulations.”’


Seems like there is something fishy going on. I live in Pennsylvania, but unfortunately I don’t live in either of their districts, otherwise I would vote for the opposition.

Here is the political ad that CatholicVote.org has put out.




Cross Posted at Tu ne cede malis

The Sr. Keehan Controversy: So, I'm Not Pro Life?

Controversy within the Catholic blogosphere as to whether Sr. Keehan’s statement’s here(and posted below) imply that if a person doesn’t support ‘Comprehensive Health Care Revolution Reform’-Obamacare- than you are not pro-life. I agree with Tantamergo, A Dallas Area Catholic’s assessment here since Sr. Keehan and the Catholic Health Association have made it quite clear in there statements and letters to politicians that they are supportive of Obamacare (a.k.a. comprehensive health care reform) so it is not far-fetched to come to the common sense conclusion that she was implying that if you don’t support Obamacare than you are not pro-life. While over at Vox Nova and here, they are defending Sr. Keehan’s statements and consistently defend controversial statements made by pro-abortion people, I have yet to see them defend controversial statements that were made by pro-life agencies, but yet have attacked them in the past. And, if you had any doubts about Sr. Keehan’s allegiance to Obamacare and “compressive health care reform” then they can be allayed now since in researching the CHA website I have found links to one video that CHA contributed signs and to the montage of signs that displayed support for Obamacare and the fact that Sr. Keehan visited the White House with the sole purpose of showing her support for Obamacare. Both she and the CHS are so heavily invested in the support of “Comprehensive health care revolution reform” -Obamacare- that the CHS combined with other hospitals have pledged a total of $155 billion to support the President’s efforts for health care reform. So, I think only a nonsensical elitist-minded individual who is stuck in the some alternate reality could believe that Sr. Keehan was not referring to people who are against Obamacare as not being pro-life.


And, these people who think that universal health care or single payer system, or government run health care is the panacea that would fix our health care accessibility and affordability problems are misguided. If these people think turning the way our doctors practice health care upside down and turning the whole system over to the Federal government is going to solve those issues they are highly misinformed and misled by certain people within either the Catholic community or by politicians. Should we sacrifice quality versus quantity in our health care system as other countries have done? Why do you think many people from other countries come to the U.S. when they’re sick and need a certain medical procedure performed on them that isn’t offered in their country? Patients come here for treatment here because we offer the invaluable procedures that they need and their country doesn’t because they’re country’s government limits the ingenuity of the medical professions and thus offers fewer procedures. Why is the U.S. able to offer what other countries can‘t? It is because of the principles of freedom and liberty in America and our Founders explicitly provided us with a road map for a limited government that would not intrude into our private lives as a government run health care system would. In other countries, the government controls what procedures may be done, the number of patients which may be seen, and many aspects of health care so this limits their availability to treat patients effectively. The United States treats people more effectively than other country around the globe because the government is not controlling every aspect of the doctors’ and patients’ lives. Doctors and medical researchers can use ingenuity to find new treatments, procedures and surgeries to help patients because they are not reliant on the government for monetary funds or approval for this and that procedure. As bad as you think it is with insurance companies it is much worse under the control of the government.


These same people like to apply the seamless garment philosophy in thinking that helping all of the poor in the name of “social justice” is on the same plane as the abortion issue. This simply isn’t true. To think that opposition to comprehensive health care reform-Obamacare- is on the same plane as being pro-abortion is fallacious. As children of God we do have a moral obligation to help the poor, but it is not wrong for us to choose to help one person instead of another person. It is not evil for us to choose to help Joe while being unable to help Robin at the same time. It is important for us, as children of God, to do these acts of charity which takes a free-will on our part instead of being forced by the government to give money to the poor. But, abortion is morally different. Abortion is always murder- it is never morally licit. Abortion is an intrinsic evil. No exercise of the act of killing an innocent human being is ever licit, but it can be licit to refrain from an act of charity which would benefit this or that poor or sick person. If one is of limited means, one is obligated to see to the needs of his or her family before tossing away one’s resources on strangers. It is our obligation to adhere to both moral law and civil law and not to commit murder, or kill ANY innocent human being. It is entirely appropriate for the government to compel our obedience to the law and demand under the threat of force that we refrain from murder. But how appropriate is it for the state to compel our charitable giving at the point of a gun (effectively eliminating its value as an act of charity)?




Catholic Health Association's website is here.

CHA has a link to ourhealthcarevalues where you can verify the details that I mentioned regarding Sr. Keehan's support for Obamacare.
 
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