c. 2006 Religion News Service

BOSTON _ The nation’s first law requiring citizens to carry health insurance is drawing spiritual healers into the political fray as they fight for the right to refuse coverage for medical services.

By July 1, 2007, all Massachusetts residents must be able to prove that they have health insurance. Certain large employers who don’t provide coverage will be fined $295 per uninsured employee, to help the state fund low-cost coverage for the poor.

That mandate has Christian Scientists urging regulators to spell out that qualifying group health plans should provide broadly for “health care” rather than just pay for “medical services,” which Christian Scientists reject on religious grounds.

At stake, church leaders say, is whether Bay State residents have a right to choose a path to healing that relies more on spirituality than medical technology.

“We’re using this opportunity to express a broader concern that focuses on access and options for health care,” says Jane Warmack, manager of the legislative division of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, whose “Mother Church” headquarters in Boston employs about 550 people.

“We want to keep avenues open so individuals can make a choice as to the type of health care they want.”

Christian Scientists follow the teachings of Mary Baker Eddy, whose 19th century classic “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” has inspired millions over the past century to follow what they regard as Jesus’ example and shun medicine in times of illness. Practitioners instead pursue health through good nutrition, positive thought and prayer.

As an employer, the Mother Church offers a choice of a conventional health plan or one designed especially for Christian Scientists, which is chosen by about 25 percent of church employees. It’s the Christian Science plan _ which utilizes prayer and at-home nursing services such as reading aloud and light housekeeping _ which likely doesn’t qualify as health insurance under the current set of proposed regulations.

For sticking with the Christian Science approach, individuals and the church alike could face penalties under proposed regulations. But making everyone get conventional insurance doesn’t seem fair either, according to Claire Waterson, lobbyist for the Mother Church.

“Are you going to mandate that (individuals) must pay for something they’re not going to utilize?” Waterson says.

This isn’t the first time religious considerations have surfaced in the crafting of Massachusetts’ universal health care law, which is attracting attention across the country as a possible model for other states. When lawmakers passed the law in April, they carved out an exemption for individuals with “sincerely held religious beliefs,” although no such exemption exists for employers.

At this point, the proposed regulations are still subject to revision after public comment. State lawmakers will take up the issue again if necessary to clarify their intent, which was to make sure no one gets penalized for choosing a religious path to health, according to state Sen. Richard T. Moore, co-chair of the Senate Health Care Financing Committee.

“We recognize that there are some people, because of their religious beliefs, who don’t subscribe to traditional medical treatment,” Moore says. “They don’t necessarily have to have the standard medical plan that everybody else is going to need to have.”

But anyone with such an exemption would be considered to have had a change of heart if they later seek medical care after an injury or illness sets in, and soon would be required to carry medical insurance, like it or not.

“If they said they didn’t believe from a religious standpoint in that type of care, and they show up in the emergency room and expect to be treated, then they have changed their position,” Moore says. “And so therefore they have put themselves in a different category, one that does require health insurance.”

KRE/RB END MACDONALD