Civil Rights Commission Says Health Reform Bill Discriminatory
Back in August, I blogged about racial preferences provisions (and wrote about them in a Townhall column) in the House of Representatives’s version of the health care reform bill. Found on page 881 of a bill of over 1,000 pages, for example:
“In awarding grants or contracts under this section, the Secretary shall give preference to entities that have a demonstrated record of…Training individuals who are from underrepresented minority groups or disadvantaged backgrounds.”
The Washington Times reported that the U.S. Civil Rights Commission intended to send a letter to the president and Congress, asking them to rewrite the provisions and to inform members the programs mentioned in the bill were “unlikely to reduce health care disparities among racial and ethic groups.”
The wheels of bureaucracy turn very slowly. The commission sent the letter to House leadership in October and a similar letter to Senate leadership on December 11. (Hat tip: Heritage)
An excerpt of the seven-page letter (emphasis added):
“No matter how well-intentioned, utilizing racial preferences with the hope of alleviating health care disparities is inadvisable both as a matter of policy and a matter of law. This is not to suggest that more cannot or should not be done to attract highly qualified physicians and other health care professional of any race to practice in underserved areas, where they are in short supply and badly needed. But any recruitment, training, or assessment of such health care professionals’ qualifications, and any federal funding thereof, must be accomplished without regard to race.
…
“As we noted in our October 9, 2009 letter, it is generally illegal for the government to show favoritism or even use classifications based on race, ethnicity, or sex. Indeed, such classifications and favoritism are ‘presumptively invalid.’…To withstand…[strict scrutiny], a racial classification must be necessary to serve a compelling state interest and must be narrowly drawn to serve that end…It is unlikely that the Senate Health Care bill’s racial classifications…would survive legal scrutiny.”
