" Pope to Lawmakers: Protect All People With Health Care Laws(Part One) "

Pope Francis says health care legislation must promote "common good" as he decries that in some places only the privileged can afford top treatments.

Pope Francis on Thursday urged lawmakers to ensure that health care laws protect the "common good," decrying the fact that in many places only the privileged can afford sophisticated medical treatments.

The comments came as U.S. lawmakers in Washington, D.C., have been debating how to overhaul the nation's health insurance laws.

In a message to a medical association meeting at the Vatican, Francis expressed dismay at what he called a tendency toward growing inequality in health care. He said in wealthier countries, health care access risks being more dependent on people's money than on their need for treatment.

"Increasingly, sophisticated and costly treatment is available to ever more limited and privileged segments of the population, and this raises questions about the sustainability of healthcare delivery and about what might be called a systemic tendency toward growing inequality in health care," the pope said.

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