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Coburn pens op-ed for LGBT mag pushing against health reform

By Michael O'Brien - 10/20/09 10:19 AM ET

Sen. Coburn took to the website of a national gay and lesbian newsmagazine to make the case against health reform proposals before Congress.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) penned an op-ed for the online version of the LGBT magazine The Advocate, which was posted Monday and co-authored by Christopher Barron, the chairman of GOProud, an organization for gay conservatives.

"We can and should work to make sure that every man, woman, and child in this country has access to quality, affordable health care," the pair wrote. "The good news is that we can do this. We can do it without creating an inefficient and expensive government program and we can do it in such a way that empowers individuals to take control of their own health care."

Coburn, who is a physician, and Barron referenced the example of rationing of certain critical AIDS treatments funded by the government as an example of why the public (or "government-run") option currently contained in House and Senate health proposals would be detrimental.

"These bureaucratic inefficiencies and mismanagement have literally cost lives," they wrote.

Taking to The Advocate's website marks an interesting approach for Coburn, as well, who is an especially conservative Republican in Congress. His chief of staff, Michael Schwartz, also came under fire last month for having likened all pornography to "homosexual pornography."

Source:
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/63853-coburn-pens-op-ed-for-lgbt-mag-pressing-case-against-health-reform

Comments (4)

Coburn is a right-wing Fundamentalist. Period. Anything he pens will be disregarded by Advocate's readers. Let's see how Coburn votes when repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell comes before the Senate.BY Don on 10/20/2009 at 14:07
The greatest bureaucratic inefficiency that held back the critical treatment of the AIDS epidemic was Ronald Reagan and the conservatives like Tom Coburn who supported him. That Coburn would try to use AIDS as any part of his arguement is obscene.BY David on 10/20/2009 at 15:52
Tom Coburn has done more to support persons with AIDS than almost any other member of Congress, from serving on the president's AIDS commission, to authoring the reauthorization of the Ryan White ACT in the 1990s.BY Larry Jones on 10/20/2009 at 16:30
Larry, Tom Coburn authored another "conscience clause" amendment to the budget this year after Obama's HHS revoked it in HHS regs. That "conscience clause" would have allowed doctors to legally refuse to treat anyone they don't like based on "religious freedom." Thankfully, it failed. If it had passed, my partner and I could have been turned away by every doctor in my PPO for being gay, and I would have been powerless to stop it because, "B-b-b-b-but it's my RELIGION!" Now imagine what that would have done to AIDS patients when they came up against a series of doctors who believe that AIDS is God's punishment for being Teh Ghey.Tom Coburn is not a nice man, and he does not care about people with AIDS.BY Keori on 10/20/2009 at 17:04

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