My Critique of the "Obamacare" Editorial

In the National Review, Senator Tom Coburn wrote the editorial A Physician's Check-Up on the One-Year-Old Health-Care Law.   In summary, he presents his point that not only was the passed law a failure, but it is actually made the health-care system worse than what is was prior to the passing of the bill.


Senator Coburn's target audience was clearly those in opposition to "Obamacare." More specifically, he was speaking to middle class American households.  He speaks of taxes levied upon middle class families and rubs in the point that bureaucrats benefit from the bill.  Interestingly enough, the usage of tone and statistics also told me he also wanted to inform/convince supporters of the new health-care plan.  The message was loud and clear though, Sen. Coburn is clearly anti-"Obamacare."

Being a Senator in the United States Legislator alone gives him immediate credibility.  But in addition he uses real numbers and knowledge of policy that he is familiar with.  I did notice that he did not actually state any current effects (with the exception of Medicare scamming) but just predicted outcomes.  So in some ways, Coburn use dramatization and sensationalism to drive his points home to his audience.  But he spoke truth and made legitimate arguments in my opinion so I feel his credibility remain fully intact.

His first argument was that there would be a drastic increase in consumer costs.  The key components of this spike would be an $813 million increase (to middle-class families) in addition to "directly increasing the cost of health coverage, drugs, and medical devices."  I have no choice but to agree with that, there is no disputing these claims.  His second argument is that the bill would cause "18 million Americans will be forced onto Medicaid" causing an already struggling social service to become even less equipped to help out increasing numbers of people needing health care.  This is also no contest, adding dependents to a system while also cutting funding will only result in a diminishing standard of care.  Sen. Coburn also argues that employer - and as a result - the workforce will be devastated by this bill.  Fines would be levied on companies with inadequate health care coverage for their employees and would cause cuts in wages and jobs as a whole.  This is the only way smaller companies could cover fine or be able to provide adequate health care options for their employees.