Expert: Christians face being driven out of health care

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An expert at the Acton Institute says the Democratic presidential hopefuls promoting universal health insurance have failed to address one significant point.

It likely would be the end for Christians in the medical profession.

It's because a government-owned and -operated system likely would not allow for any exercise of individual conscience.

Rev. Ben Johnson, a senior editor at the Acton Institute, argued that's exactly what happened in Canada.

NPR noted Sen. Bernie Sanders has been the biggest promoter of what he calls "Medicare for All."

It would have the government take over health care, billing taxpayers for all medical expenses.

And at least a handful of competitors are on board with the idea.

National Review recently profiled the situation in Canada. Even though the Canadian Charter guarantees "freedom of conscience and religion," the country's Supreme Court has created a right to euthanasia, and since it's a government-controlled health care system, doctors must do as they are told.

Catholic and other religious doctors sued to enforce their liberties, National Review said.

"In one of the world’s most important 'medical conscience' rulings, a trial judge admitted the doctors' Charter rights were indeed infringed. But he ruled that a right (nowhere mentioned in the Charter) to 'equal and equitable access' to legal and government-funded medical interventions trumped doctors’ freedom of religion," the report said.

That means, under the most recent appeals ruling, that "doctors must not only euthanize or refer, but also abort or refer, and provide any other controversial legal service that a patient might want or refer – their religious freedoms or moral consciences be damned," the report said.

When most of the current doctors got into health care, the report explained, euthanasia was a felony, but now is a required medical procedure.

He noted the Canadian case as well as a Congressional Budget Office document called "Key Design Components and Considerations for Establishing a Single-Payer Health Care System." The CBO said the question of whether people will be allowed to opt out "for moral or religious" reasons is a pending decision in a single-payer system.

Johnson said that "those who refuse to use services that violate their religion maybe compelled to 'contribute' to them 'through existing automatic payroll withholdings and taxes,' as in Canada and much of Europe."

"Doctors may also be compelled to perform them or leave the medical field," he warned.

The CBO report said that another key question is "whether the single-payer plan would allow participating providers to offer services that the plan covered to private-pay patients and, if so, under what conditions."

"It is certainly conceivable the U.S. may follow Canada's lead in denying the right to practice medicine to someone who refuses to participate in an abortion or physician-assisted suicide," Johnson wrote.

"The prognosis is clear: 'Medicare for All' could create a government takeover of health care, mandate that everyone in the healing profession take part in actions they deem sinful, and then hermetically seal the occupation to systematically exclude conscientious objectors."