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Media Devotes Little Attention To Sotomayor's Catholicism Compared With Conservative Nominees, WSJ Columnist Writes
Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor would be the sixth Roman Catholic currently on the court if she is confirmed, but there have been no more than "a few scattered references to this fact," Wall Street Journal columnist William McGurn writes. He continues that "for the most part the judge"s religion has been greeted, as a USA Today headline put it, with a "yawn."" McGurn adds, "How different from just a few years ago," when Catholics Justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts were nominated by former President George W. Bush.According to McGurn, when Alito was a Supreme Court nominee, "talk was about the "fifth Catholic" on the bench." He adds that Feminist Majority Foundation President Eleanor Smeal "complained that "with Alito, the majority of the court would be Roman Catholics."" McGurn writes that prior to the confirmation hearings for Chief Justice John Roberts, the Los Angeles Times "ran a piece headlined, "Wife of Nominee Holds Strong Antiabortion Views."" According to the Times, Roberts" wife worked for Feminists for Life, and the paper "characterized [her] as an "extremely, extremely devout Catholic,"" McGurn writes."It"s possible, of course, that Democrats and their allies in the media and activist community no longer regard Catholics with the suspicion they did back when ... Bush"s nominees were up for consideration," according to McGurn. "More likely, the relatively soft reaction to Ms. Sotomayor"s Catholicism is because of a calculation that when it comes to hot-button issues such as abortion or gay marriage, she doesn"t really believe what her church teaches," he writes.McGurn continues that if the "indifference" to "Sotomayor"s Catholicism were truly a sign of a new respect for the "no religious test" provisions of the Constitution, that would be something to celebrate." He concludes, "But in the unlikely case that this "wise Latina" ever comes to see the legal wisdom of overturning [Roe v. Wade] and returning abortion to the democratic process, we"ll be reading a very different story" (McGurn, Wall Street Journal, 7/14).

Health Insurance Premiums For Families Topped $12,000 A Year In 2008
The cost of insuring a family of four with an employer-sponsored health plan in the United States averaged $12,298 in 2008, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
News of the day
Program To Prevent Behavioral Health Crises Earns National Honor
A Minnesota program that provides psychiatric medications to low-income patients received a 2009 Community Leadership Award honorable mention from America"s Health Insurance Plans. The awards, which were announced at AHIP"s annual Institute in San Diego, recognize programs that address a community need.
Oncology

Florida Moves To Increase Health Insurance For Children

Capitol News Service reports that an estimated 50,000 additional uninsured children may receive medical coverage from legislation that Gov. Charlie Crist signed Tuesday. "The Kid Care program offers low cost insurance to children up to ages 19. But penalties and a lengthy application process have kept thousand of families out," Capitol News Service reports. "The legislation shortens the waiting time to enroll in the state"s Kid Care program and lessens the penalties for missing a premium payment." Children"s advocates have been pushing for the legislation for three years and call it a good start. The program enrolls 1.5 million children, but a lack of advertising money has hindered its ability to "spread the word" further (Ray, 6/2). The Miami Herald notes that the legislation will expand the role of certain advocates, known as guardians ad litem, to protect children"s legal rights. The paper also reported that "while up to 50,000 more children may get Kid Care, the bill does not expand eligibility: The children of state workers, undocumented immigrant children and pregnant women remain ineligible" (Bousquet and Reinhard, 6/2). This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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