Outlines healthcare goals

Executive director John Kerry testified on health, Medicaid and aging on behalf of the Conference, which represents the state's bishops on public policy matters.

"Access to adequate and necessary health care is inherent to the dignity of the human person," Mr. Kerry stated, "and all of us acting together bear responsibility to ensure every individual has the means to access such care."

The director applauded Gov. George Pataki's proposed Medicaid buy-in program for persons with disabilities and Medicaid coverage for low-income patients with breast and cervical cancer. However, he also noted his concern that health care should remain accessible to all in this less-stable economy.

The Catholic Conference, said Mr. Kerry, hopes to see the following in the state budget:

* restoration of funding instead of proposed cuts in Medicaid payments to nursing home and home care providers;

* more recruitment and training (through programs and grants) to reverse labor shortages in the healthcare workforce;

* an end to Medicaid-funded abortions, and bans on partial-birth abortion and human cloning (as well as removal of abortion coverage from the Child Health Plus program);

* better palliative and hospice care for the dying;

* support for sexual abstinence programs and assistance for women with unplanned pregnancies, including an increase to $2 million for the Maternity and Early Childhood Foundation;

* increases in funding for home-based services for the elderly, including the Expanded In-Home Services for the Elderly Program, the Congregate Services Initiative and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program;

* more funding for adult day care, Caregiver Resource Centers and respite services; and

* reforms to make assisted-living programs for the elderly more affordable.

"The steps you took [last year] helped to lay the foundation for an environment that fosters increased access to health care," Mr. Kerry told state lawmakers. "We urge you to expand upon these programs and to extend coverage to the more than one million citizens and immigrants who will remain uninsured even after these new programs are implemented."

The director noted that any changes must focus on affirming the dignity of human beings and on social justice.

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