World News
Parents of disabled children speak out on health reform proposals
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Seventeen parents of children with disabilities gathered on Capitol Hill Sept. 15 to speak out against proposed government health care reform plans that they said could mean the difference between life and death for their children by limiting access to doctors and rationing health care. The parents, many with their children by their side or holding large photos of their loved ones, joined together as the Healthcare for Gunner Coalition to let President Barack Obama and Congress know that it will be their children and their families who could suffer and be denied critical care under current proposed legislation. Joined by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., the mother of a child with Down syndrome, and Trent Franks, R-Ariz., who was born with a cleft palate, coalition members presented a horrific picture of a future where the weak, vulnerable, elderly and the unborn are given lowest priority. "We have to make sure that health care legislation doesn't leave this important group behind," said McMorris Rodgers. "We have to make sure that health care reform does three things: improve the health care in America, lower the costs and help vulnerable persons." Franks, whose late brother had Down syndrome, warned of the dangers presented by the current health care reform bill, H.R. 3200. "We run into one reality: the rationing of care because you have to decrease the costs," said Franks. "There is always, always rationing and restrictions, which fall on the most weak."
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