Aid Opposed for Christian Science Care

In an unusual move, the Justice Department is telling Congress it no longer will defend in court a federal law that allows Medicare and Medicaid payments to Christian Science care-givers.

A federal judge in Minnesota ruled in August that such payments, permitted since the mid-1960s, violate the constitutional separation of church and state.

In a letter to the Senate legal counsel, Atty. Gen. Janet Reno said current legal precedent does not allow the government to provide “special benefits” to members of one religious group.

Christian Science church officials had no immediate comment.

Reno said Justice Department officials would help Congress if lawmakers wanted to draft new legislation to address the needs of Christian Scientists and members of other religious groups. She noted that Senate leaders could decide to defend the law in court themselves.

The First Church of Christ, Scientist, teaches that prayer is the most effective treatment for illness and that conventional medicine is incompatible with spiritual healing.

Although Christian Science caregivers use no drugs or conventional medical treatments, they have received millions of dollars in federal Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.

Church officials say the Medicare and Medicaid money pays for general nonmedical care--such as bandages, bedpans and comfort--and not prayer.

Medicare and Medicaid, which provide health care for the elderly, disabled and poor, ordinarily pay for nonmedical services only as they relate to medical care.

But federal law contains an exception allowing coverage for nonmedical care at facilities operated or certified by the Christian Science church. Those facilities also are exempt from various regulatory procedures.

U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle ruled those provisions unconstitutional in August. Church representatives said it was the first such ruling in a case involving reimbursement to Christian Science caregivers.

The government and the church appealed the ruling to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But the government told the court last week that it will file papers arguing that the Christian Science provisions are, in fact, unconstitutional.