the Blunt amendment

Sounds cool, right? "The Blunt amendment." Stoners might say, "dude, I love smokin' blunts."

Yeah, well, it was nothing so sweet as that. The Blunt amendment ("Amendment") would have allowed employers to deny medical insurance coverage for things they don't believe in.

Ostensibly it was so that the Catholic Church and other religious institutions would not have to provide insurance coverage for birth control. However, the Amendment was so vaguely worded that, taken as it was presented, you could end up with no medical coverage AT ALL if you worked for a company owned by a member (or members) of the Church of Christ, Scientist (Christian Science). Christian Scientists do not believe in medical care; they use prayer instead. People sometimes die as a result. Even children. Parents who follow this faith have been indicted for child abuse after their children died because they refused to seek treatment.

How would you like it if your boss told you, "Cancer, you say? We'll all pray that Jesus heals you. No, you can't have chemotherapy. Radiation? I don't think so. Prayer, my friend, prayer."

Proponents of dangerous bills such as this Amendment have said, "work someplace else." That makes even less sense than Nancy Reagan's "Just say no" idiocy. This is not a worker's market. People need the jobs they have and, if unemployed, will take ANY job. People who have sworn that they would never work for Wal-Mart are filling out applications and praying to be hired. I've done it myself.

It is hard enough to find health care through an employer these days without giving them an out like the Blunt amendment.