April 16, 2001

Christian Science can get Medicaid money, court says
___By Kenny Byrd
___Associated Baptist Press
___WASHINGTON (ABP)--A Christian Science nursing facility that relies on prayer instead of conventional medicine for treatment can receive federal payments through Medicare and Medicaid, according to a ruling left standing by the United States Supreme Court April 2.
___Without comment, the high court turned away an appeal that claimed the payments violate the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state.
___Both the Medicare Act and Medicaid Act of 1965 originally made specific allowances for adherents of Christian Science religion, which, according to court documents, "objects to medical care and embraces prayer as the sole means of healing."
___A U.S. district court ruled in 1996 that allowing the group to qualify for federal payments violated the First Amendment's ban on establishment of religion.
___Congress responded by replacing "sect-specific" portions of the two laws with neutral language accommodating "any person who is relying on a religious method of healing and for whom the acceptance of the medical health services would be inconsistent with his or her religious beliefs."
___The changes enabled individuals who hold religious objections to medical care to receive governmental assistance for care at "religious non-medical health-care institutions."
___The taxpayers' group that won the previous case against such payments, Children's Healthcare is a Legal Duty Inc., sued again, but this time lost in the district court.
___Ruling in favor of the Christian Scientists and several religious groups that filed friend-of-the court-briefs in support of the religious exemption, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed the new arrangement is constitutional. The 8th Circuit said the new legislative language was designed "to accommodate all persons who object to medical care for religious reasons, not only Christian Scientists."
___The appeals court said the act was constitutional under the three-pronged "Lemon test" used previously in disputes over the establishment of religion. The court said the measure has a secular purpose, it neither advances nor inhibits religion and it does not create excessive entanglement between church and state.
___The court said the law merely allows individuals "to be reimbursed for a subset of those services for which they would be reimbursed if they had sought treatment at a medical institution."

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