A coalition of area church leaders echoed a nationwide faith-based call Wednesday for government leaders to take care of the poor first as they go about reforming the country's health care system.

Representatives from 17 different religious organizations in Utah joined 40 such groups around the country who are rallying and praying this week for justice and equal health care for all.

President Barack Obama and Congress could go a long way toward having the prayer answered by expanding qualifications for Medicaid, the joint state/federal insurance plan for the poor, to everyone under the federal poverty level regardless of age, ability or parental status, members of the Utah Coalition of Religious Communities said Wednesday.

The coalition states in a letter signed by 47 representatives of area Christian, Jewish, Buddhist and Muslim congregations to U.S. Sens. Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch that government officials need to start the reform by making their first priority the poorest third of working Americans without medical insurance.

The coalition-led prayer was one of three rallies around health care reform planned for Wednesday. The other two are opposed to the proposed reforms, however, with one protesting ABC News for airing a prime-time special with Obama. The president has warned the reforms are needed because the ripple effect of not reforming health care and the medical insurance industry will not only fuel the soaring cost of care but could bankrupt Medicaid and Medicare.

Coalition members said the current market-driven system can't be counted on to do the right thing, which is why 300,000 Utahns and the 47 million Americans nationwide are without insurance. If it were working, businesses wouldn't be dropping coverage right and left for their employees, and Americans wouldn't be spending $2.4 trillion a year on medical care.

Getting some control over costs and giving people access to basic preventative medical care will take the best combined efforts of consumers, providers and government agencies.

"The system right now is like throwing people half a life preserver," said Linda Hilton, noting that the ranks of the underemployed who are also new members of the underinsured are growing exponentially as the economy in general continues to falter.

Among them is Bobby Flores, who injured his back on the job six months ago. He is in constant pain and cannot work but cannot get the needed surgery until he becomes poor enough to go on Medicaid, and then he would need to also be identified as permanently disabled.

"I'm not (permanently disabled) and I want get back to work," Flores said. "It's like having a broken rib; no matter what position I try, I'm always in pain. But what makes me crazy is I have to be certified completely unable to work to be able to get back to work."

Flores is more the rule than the exception of a system that has become two-tiered — the wealthy getting what they want and the poor falling through the cracks, said coalition member the Rev. Steve Goodier, Christ United Methodist, Salt Lake.

"We do have the best health care system in the world — for those who can afford it," Goodier said. "We're talking about doing the financially correct but the morally right thing. As we've seen in recent months, no market or profit-driven system can be counted on to do that on their own."

E-MAIL: jthalman@desnews.com