ardinal Bernard Law performed a valuable service for all Americans when he urged Governor George W. Bush to consider putting expanded health care care coverage on the national agenda. Providing all Americans with the opportunity to get adequate health insurance would add substance to the governor's claim to be a ''compassionate conservative.''
The cardinal has a longstanding interest in health care because of his leadership of the Caritas Christi group of hospitals in and around Boston. His concern reflects the Catholic social teaching that all people have a fundamental right to these services.
Bush has endorsed a $1,000 tax credit for those who cannot get health insurance at work ($2,000 for a family). He would assist businesses in forming insurance buying cooperatives, would encourage more physicians to work in needy areas, and would provide for a prescription drug benefit under Medicare.
At their meeting this month, Law provided Bush with a more expansive program outlined by the Catholic Health Association. Like Bush's plan, it would retain and improve employer-sponsored insurance but would also establish a federal program to cover those who cannot get health insurance at work.
Government provides 45.5 percent of health care funding in this country, and these services are ingrained in the lives of millions of Americans. The conservative Bush acknowleges these realities when he proposes improvements in the current system.
But 44 millions Americans are not covered by health insurance, and millions more have policies with gaps that deny them essential services. Many of them do jobs that are vital but lack health benefits; others are unable to work for various reasons beyond their control. ''The availability and affordability of health coverage should not be a function of employment, health status, income, or other factors,'' the Catholic Health Association declares.
Compassion dictates that every American get this essential benefit. Does conservatism insist on a system that denies it? Bush could see this as an opportunity for defining himself more substantively and also for gaining advantage over Vice President Gore, who has been overly cautious on the issue. Most important, Bush could contribute to a lasting improvement in American life if he made this cause his own.
