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Isabella Hernandez

Professor Parker

Engl 1302

17 July 2019

Obamacare

There have been many ways that the implement of Obamacare act has affected the US.

This act has raised many questions that relate to the people that are affected by passing

Obamacare. Putting this act in law, required a lot of other things to happen to help pass it. While

Obamacare was implemented another act was being passed as well, the Reconciliation Act of

2010. Since Obamacare has been implemented the taxes have risen. It has been 9 years since the

act has been in effect and now president Trump has said that his administration is working on a

replacement plan. The outcome of this act has affected many Americans, either by taxes or not

having any healthcare at all. In an article by Chris Pope wrote his article to give a republican

stance on Obamacare and the new things they are trying to add, by using ethos to persuade the

audience with facts and show Americans that the act would be doing more harm to the majority

than good.

The purpose of this article was to persuade the people that Obamacare was not fulfilling

the things he said was going to happen if passed and then trying to implement a new reform to

“fix” Obamacare but will do more damage. Pope used fats to show how what Obama promised

failed when the act was passed in 2010 “Health-insurance premiums for individual purchasers

more than doubled in the first three years following the legislation's enactment”…“plans now

average $4,700 per year”(Chris Pope 2) when before the average was 2,500. By giving these

facts it shows that alternatives should be taken while still proving the safety net for the lower
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income families. Before this act was implemented, republicans stated that the US had the highest

rate for health care but that proved to be wrong.“ The average level of out-of-pocket costs faced

by Americans as a share of household consumption (3 percent) is actually already slightly lower

than the average among developed countries.” By giving theses facts it is telling the people that

what was being said was not helping for the bigger picture.

A lot of the article was giving information about how majority of Americans where better

off before the act was implemented. Towards the middle of the article he started to explain how

the people who voted for Obamacare are seeing the repercussions. The majority that voted for

Obamacare have a new plan to help the downfalls that it had throughout the 9 years. They came

up with this based on their ethics which is to implement a new reform called single payer or

“Medicare for all” purchased by the government. Advocates of the reform have said to believe

that many problems that Americans face are because of private insurance companies, along with

other things.

They believe that this explains why other countries are able to spend less on health care

but get consistently better health outcomes. They believe that insurance companies could

be eliminated without any adverse effects, that making the government responsible for

medical procurement would save billions every year in administrative expenses, and that

hospital costs could be slashed simply by mandating that facilities accept lower

reimbursement rates. (Chris Pope 5)

Pope uses their ethical view to demonstrate what the advocates want to happen. When you take a

step back and look at what is really going on, Americans will be paying more “Estimates by the

liberal Urban Institute and the conservative Mercatus Center agree that single-payer pro posals
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would cost over $3 trillion per year”(Chris Pope 8). This makes the reader comprehend how the

other party views healthcare care and make others really think about reforming Obamacare.

Going through this article Pope seems to use little emotion to change the readers viewpoint

about Obamacare and the effects that it has on the middle and some of the upper-class. He mostly

uses facts and peoples’ ethics towards healthcare. He does state some things that might play on the

emotional appeal of the reader. Possibly making them feel guilty for effecting the lives of others

by making them pay high taxes so that some will receive Healthcare that the taxpayers pay for.

Berny Sanders realizes the effects “It is extraordinary that so many Democrats are contemplating

the largest tax increase in American history simply to pay for services that affluent Americans are

already getting.”(Chris Pope 18) The reason for him to say this was to show that there is no reason

to try and get this reform approved when it will just put the US in more dept than it already is.

Although the “Medicare buy in” is established for the elderly, if it would be for all Americans the

monthly rates will rise Together, this means that the current premium for a Medicare buy-in can

be $974 per month—well above the average rate of $477 already available to unsubsidized upper-

income earners on the exchange”(Chris Pope 11) just to cover the downfalls of Obamacare.

Someone is going to have to pay for the “Medicare buy in” and it is leaning towards the

government cause the taxes to rise. Putting the new “Medicare buy in” reform will make the

Americans feel outraged because their tax dollars will rise.

Obamacare have had many effects on the US good and bad since it went into law in 2010,

now the people who see its flaws are wanting to change some things about it and want to implement

a reform called the “Medicare for all” it will only cause more debt for the US and all they are

trying to do is hide all the flaws that Obamacare caused. When people are wrong, very rarely they

will admit that they were wrong. Chris Pope seemingly did the same thing in his article to the
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people. Chris used his article to give facts and used the readers ethical appeal to persuade them

that he had good points.

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Citations

POPE, CHRIS. “Medicare for All Hides Obamacare’s Flaws.” National Review, vol. 71, no. 8,

May 2019, p. 20.