13. There Is No Evidence That Obamacare Will Make Poor Americans Less Likely to Work

Matthew O'Brien, a senior associate director at The Atlantic, composed an article where he comments on the evidence which suggests that Obamacare does not affect the level of work in the poorer classes. He begins his article by asking the question, "Will we stop working once we don't need to work to get health insurance?" He answers this question by stating that most people wouldn't stop working. He justifies this answer by taking into consideration the desire most people have to save up money for their retirement, among other future investments. He quotes Ezra Klein who gives a scenario showing the work of the Obama Care Act in the lives of those who cannot take a job to provide insurance for their families because they are needed at home. He continues his article by pointing out that being insured or not does not affect the people who end up working, basing his assertion on researcher from institutions such as Harvard, MIT, or the Social Security Administration. Their research in Oregon was made possible because of the system by which the insurance policy was handed out: by lottery. Thus, the people who did get the insurance policy were chosen at random. Even with this random allotment of insurance, the evidence supports that when it comes to insurance, most people continue working. He ends the article by concluding that, "We don't need the threat of medical bankruptcy to make our economy work." He concludes that whether or not Medicaid protects the insurance of those who are not working, it will not lead to a surge of lazy workers who give up their jobs because they can keep their insurance. 

In this article O'Brien writes mainly to argue against the belief that Medicaid and the Obama Care Act will create a substantial majority leaving their jobs because they do not have to worry about their insurance. He argues this effectively, backing up his statements with credible research and by quoting other influential articles. He also is persuasive, using rhetorical devices to his benefit. He alludes to The Hunger Games when he describes the issue of giving insurance by lottery in Oregon. Although this is a major piece of evidence, he relies on the public knowledge of the movie The Hunger Games. Nevertheless, he is straight to the point and is capable of using his evidence effectively. His article has a good flow to it, throughout it follows the main point he is trying to prove. Furthermore, he varies his sentence structure, he uses both choppy and longer sentences. This helps the fluidity of his essay and contributes to his tone. His tone is serious, yet he also has a sarcastic undertone. The image he uses in the article is not as effective as it could be. It portrays the issue of health care and it's effect on people, yet it does little to provide any support for his article. Overall, his article is affective and cuts up the belief that Obama's Medicaid encourages laziness among workers or even unemployment. His essay is to the point and persuasive, leaving the reader without a shadow of a doubt that what he says is true.                
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/10/there-is-no-evidence-that-obamacare-will-make-poor-americans-less-likely-to-work/280754/