California's Huge Health Care Opportunity

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Nov. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Californians are known for being at the vanguard of social change. Within the next several days they will have an opportunity to change the scope of the state's health care system into something that everyone can feel better about.

In the current push to approve the new Health Care Reform Bill by November 26, state lawmakers are nearing an agreement that will answer the question of how effective health care reform can be for all Californians. In addition to providing conventional coverage for those who choose it, the reform bill is an opportunity to provide access to and coverage for spiritual healing as an option to meet the personal health care needs of Californians.

Currently, the bill does not specifically include the possibility of insurance coverage for Californians to utilize a prayer-based method of treatment, and many are concerned that this method of treatment may get lost in the current focus on providing coverage for traditional systems.

According to Brian Talcott, state spokesman for the Christian Science Church, "The goal of any mandated universal health care system should be to provide access to effective care that addresses all aspects of an individual's wellbeing--and spiritual care achieves this goal."

While much of the focus of reform in California is on mandating coverage for medical care, there are many who elect to use a spiritually based method of healing in lieu of a medical method. They not only find it to be reliable and immediate but also cost effective. "If people can achieve healing through spiritual means without incurring large medical bills, that obviously is a benefit to society," Talcott said. "A spiritual approach to health care is viable and helpful to the public in many ways," he added, "and should be part of any healthcare delivery system that California develops. We have an opportunity in California right now to reform health care in ways that benefit the wonderfully diverse population that we have here."

SOURCE The First Church of Christ, Scientist