(CNSNews.com) – A consortium of two dozen conservative Christian groups launched a Web site Wednesday criticizing President Obama’s health-care reform plan.
 
The site, FreedomFederation.org, carries the tagline “Real Hope. Real Change. Real Freedom,” a swipe at President Obama’s campaign slogan, and features a Declaration of Ideals that citizens can sign. The 10 ideals include free exercise of religion, fair taxes and an affirmation of the sanctity of life -- including the unborn and disabled.
 
Leaders of the consortium used their own health-care stories to highlight the importance of free-market, pro-life reform at a news conference at the National Press Club. Mathew Staver, chairman of Liberty Counsel, Bishop Harry Jackson, senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Md., and Rick Tyler, the founding director of Renewing American Freedom, each took a turn at the podium.
 
Jackson recounted his own diagnosis with esophageal cancer three years ago, and expressed gratitude to have had good insurance coverage.
 
“I was given about a 15 percent chance of living by the doctors, and at that time we had to choose where we were going to go, and so we were able to go to Johns Hopkins even though it was a little bit of a drive,” he said. “I thank God for the flexibility of . . .the program that we’re on concerning insurance.”
 
But Jackson explained that some of the treatments he needed were considered “experimental” – treatments he would not have qualified for nor received under proposed evidence-based medicine requirements in the health-care reform bill – a form of rationing.
 
“If I had waited just a few months to stand in line at a rationed health care process, I wouldn’t be alive,” Jackson said. “Many of my congregational members who needed transplants and other things are deeply gratified and thankful that the system so far has given excellent care to some of them.”
 
Tyler, who works closely with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, said that increased competition and patient empowerment over government intervention. He explained that under his co-pay agreement with his insurance company, his cholesterol-reducer Lipitor cost him just $15 dollars a month, but decided to “walk the walk” and get a Health Savings Account, one of the proposed free-market health care solutions.
 
After the cost of his prescription skyrocketed to $139.10, Tyler said he did some research and found he could get a similar statin drug, Zocor, for just $40, if his doctor switched him.
 
“Since then, I’ve actually switched to Prevastatin, which is available at Wal-Mart for $4 a month,” he said. “Now how does that happen? That happened because I had access to information and consultation with my doctor. All that money I saved, which is a thousand dollars a year, now stays in my health savings account.”
 
Tyler said he thought the current health-care bill was “immoral” because it would ultimately cause the government to “place a value on human life.”
 
Staver, a nationally known attorney and litigator who is dean of the Liberty University School of Law in Lynchburg, Va., struck a moral tone and shared a dark personal story to illustrate the importance of committing to “the sanctity of life” in reforming health care.
 
Staver shared the story of his niece and grand-niece, who were, he said, “the product of my father’s rape of my sister.”
 
“(I)t was a tragic, tragic situation,” Staver told reporters. “But life always triumphs over tragedy.
 
“(T)here is no way that I can look at my niece and my grand-niece, both of whom now have graduated from high school, and say that America should have collectively funded the destruction of their life.”
 
After encountering significant pushback on his health care reform agenda, President Obama changed tack last week, citing America’s moral responsibility to provide health care and highlighting personal stories, instead of arguing that a public option would increase competition and drive costs down.
 
On a conference call with the National Council of Churches, Obama also highlighted individual hardships, saying, “No American should be pushed to the edge of financial ruin” at the hands of insurance companies. “And these are the stories I’ve heard across the country.”
 
Framing the issue on moral terms, the president said, providing health care was a “core ethical and moral obligation.” Borrowing from the Judeo-Christian tradition, Obama told religious leaders that the obligation stipulates “that we look out for one another, that I am my brother's keeper and my sister's keeper. And in the wealthiest nation on Earth right now, we are neglecting to live up to that call.”
 
Jackson said he was upset by what he seemed to view as “the hypocrisy” of the call.
 
“Many have criticized the Bush administration in the past for calling upon the clergy to be foot soldiers for their efforts,” he told reporters. “Well, it seems like progressive ministers have gone down more devious and even worse paths in that when someone says that they’ll let you have universal health care, the process is immoral.”
 
The Hope Church pastor noted that the first hospitals in both Europe and the United States had help from the church, and pointed to faith-based efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
 
“You only have to look as far back as Katrina to understand that when the government fails, the church steps up.”
 
“We can thank the Southern Baptists and we can thank many of the denominations because they have reached out in times of need to make a difference. So, I think government is not the answer.”
 
The Freedom Federation says that in addition to “sending a powerful message to Washington” with its Declaration of Ideals, it will also hold an online “Webinar” about health care reform on Sept. 10.
 
Other member organizations include Americans for Prosperity, the Campaign for Working Families, and the Eagle Forum.