Items of Interest October 28, 2013 Issue

Every health need met

On the evening of September 24, three members of the Christian Science Committee on Publication’s US Federal Office were joined by Kevin Ness (General Counsel of The First Church of Christ, Scientist) as moderator, in an 80-minute live online “town hall”-style meeting to primarily answer questions from Christian Scientists on how the US “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”—known as the ACA—may affect them. Signed into law by President Obama in March 2010 and designed to make health care more accessible and affordable, this comprehensive health-care reform law impacts individuals, employers, and insurance companies, and includes a mandate for individuals who can afford it to be enrolled in a health insurance plan or else pay a tax penalty. While some provisions of the law have already taken effect, the “individual mandate” to be enrolled in health insurance goes into effect on January 1, 2014.

Toward the end of the online chat, Margaret Rogers, a member of the Christian Science Board of Directors, who participated from Boston, shared her observations on the discussion. Here are some excerpts: 

 “Let’s just take a couple of minutes together to lift our thought in prayer about this whole issue. Often, I think the best way to start any prayer is with a thank you, and so I’ll just start by saying to all of our Church members, thank you for your prayers to understand the true nature of health and its inviolability, and to demonstrate God’s law of health in your life. It means so much to the world and to our movement. We feel the effect of your prayers. Our thanks, also, to many advisors who have helped us along the way so selflessly, and to the legislators, many of whom have gone out on a limb for our Cause. And all of that, of course, really just adds up to a thank you to God. Thank you to God for the Comforter, which has actually brought this issue of universal, effective health care to the surface of human thought, is pushing its boundaries, and is causing a more spiritual understanding of health to appear. There are so many changes. And, certainly, we Christian Scientists are not the only ones who are scratching our heads over some of these complexities. 

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