Obamacare Death Cartoon Analysis

The title of this cartoon is Obamacare Death Spiral. This cartoon is attempting to illustrate the argument that Obamacare is causing insurance companies to slash coverage, resulting in American patients not being able to afford the medical care that they need to live quality lives. In this cartoon, a man is visiting his doctor, who turns out to be Death. The man’s shirt says Obamacare, which helps to illustrate the irony of him supporting something that is causing him so much difficulty. He asks the “doctor” to give him his news, and, rather than reading a medical chart, the “doctor” is reading a chart showing Aetna’s, a major insurance company, plans for cuts. One can infer that this is coverage cuts. The fact that the doctor is represented as death is stating that the patient will not receive his necessary treatment and will die because his insurance will not cover said treatment. The audience of this article appears to be the general American public who rely on insurance to cover medical expenses. The tone of this article is serious with an undertone of hopelessness. The artist of this cartoon is Nick Mckee. He is an editorial cartoonist. He has done over 400

By making the patient a middle aged, Caucasian, low-to-middle class male, he has appealed to the majority population of America, which goes further towards promoting his point. He directly refers to Obamacare and Aetna insurance, while implicitly referring to all insurance companies and all Americans. There is both general and specific symbolism. Some of the key featured components here are the man’s shirt saying “Obamacare,” his patriotic attire and tattoo, his reference to Death as “Doc,” and the clipboard showing insurance cuts. The point of this piece is very easy to understand, and the artist has done an excellent job of persuading viewers that Obamacare is bad for American