Quite aside from the likelihood that insurance companies would love to pay for inexpensive prayer instead of expensive medical treatment, the REAL question here is this: Why on earth would the government authorize tax deductions for, or otherwise recognize "prayer" as a form of medical treatment?! If one religion's prayer constitutes "medical treatment," then so does meditation, snake handling, and any quirky religious practice that casts out devils. And think of all the payments for preventive prayer! This is insane -- the only practices that should be able to qualify as "medial treatment" should be those whose effectiveness at treating medical conditions can be empirically verified by disinterested outside observers. Normal western medical practices easily qualify. Religion does NOT qualify because its effectiveness at treating medical conditions cannot be empirically verified; in fact the opposite is the case: Time and time again when people rely solely on prayer and refuse medical treatment, they fare far worse than their peers who go to a doctor.