The College of Bishops Congratulates

President Barack Obama and the Congress

On Passing the Health Care Reform Bill

The College of Bishops and the Commission on Social Justice and Human Concerns of the Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church extend our congratulations to President Barack Obama and the United States Congress for passing the health care reform bill on Sunday, March 21, 2010.

The passing of the health care reform bill is a great historic event in the history of the United States! Significant health care reform has been needed for over 40 years. The long-debated health care reform bill reached the goal line last night as the House of Representatives voted 219-212 in favor of passing legislation that will insure 32 million Americans. Even though some of the new provisions are not scheduled to be implemented for a few more years, there are some major changes that took place when President Obama signed the bill into law.

One area that will see an immediate impact is health coverage for children. The bill will force health insurers to cover children with pre-existing health problems, as well as permit parents to keep children on their own insurance plans through age 26. The insurers will also be banned from dropping coverage due to severe illness and from limiting lifetime or annual benefits. Additionally, consumer protection rules such as the denial of pre-existing conditions, not only for children but for adults as well will be expanded to all health insurance plans.

We applaud the CME College of Bishops for supporting health care reform. At the 2009 Annual CME Convocation held in St. Louis, Missouri, the College of Bishops delivered a press release that addressed health care reform and the need for every citizen of our nation to receive adequate and affordable health care. We urged CMEs to write their Congressional leader to provide health care reform to protect our children, our elders, our sick and all who need immediate attention for their health care needs.

Although the passing of the health care reform bill is vital to the citizens of the United States, we call for Congress to continue addressing jobs, education, and the stopping of foreclosures on homes and churches around the nations by banks. There are millions of persons, including CMEs, who have lost their jobs and homes over the past two years. CMEs understand the value of education and we request for Congress to address education reform to help our youth and provide resources for young adults to attend college.

Just as the passing of health care reform was vital to our nation, we urge all CMEs to participate in Census 2010 which is vital to our communities. When you fill out a census form, you’re making a statement about what resources your community needs going forward. The information the census collects helps to determine how more than $400 billion dollars of federal funding each year is spent on infrastructure and services. Census information affects the numbers of seats your state occupies in the U.S. House of Representatives. People from many walks of life use census data to advocate for causes, rescue disaster victims, prevent diseases, research markets, and locate pools of skilled workers and more. Please take the time to fill out the form and return it in a timely manner to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, under the leadership of Senior Bishop William H. Graves and its College of Bishops, is a 139-year old historically African American Christian denomination with more than 800,000 members across the United States, and has missions and sister churches in Haiti, Jamaica, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. For additional information about the CME Church, visit www.c-m-e.org .

Senior Bishop William H. Graves, Sr., CEO

Bishop Othal H. Lakey

Bishop Edward Lynn Brown

Bishop Thomas L. Hoyt, Jr.

Bishop Paul A. G. Stewart, Sr.

Bishop Lawrence L. Reddick, III, Secretary, College of Bishops

Bishop Henry M. Williamson, Sr., Chairman of Social Justice & Human Concerns

Bishop Ronald M. Cunningham

Bishop Thomas L. Brown, Sr., Chairman, College of Bishops

Bishop Kenneth W. Carter

Bishop Dotcy I. Isom, Jr.

Bishop Marshall Gilmore

Bishop Nathaniel Linsey