Unraveled: Obamacare, Religious Liberty, and Executive Power. By Josh Blackman

Abstract

Blackman spared no effort to compile the extensive historical references contained in Unraveled: Obamacare, Religious Liberty, and Executive Power (hereafter, Unraveled). From presidential memos to bi-cameral communiqués, and from legal documents to news articles, Blackman provides a historically thorough compilation of information related primarily to the Affordable Care Act (ACA, otherwise known as Obamacare) and secondarily to the religious liberty issues associated with it. Of six-hundred pages, only about one-hundred fifty pages address religious liberty issues. The preponderance of the book focuses on the shortcomings of Obamacare, the political wrangling of conservatives to derail it, and innuendos that border on personal thrusts against Obama (Obama’s “use of executive action to alter a health care law that the legislative process could not,” pp. 41–43, 414; Obama “flubbing” his Oath of Office, pp. 82–84; Obama’s “incoherent” apology for the failed health care, pp. 199–200). Additionally, just as this work does not seem to lack a historical foundation, so also it does not appear to lack the author’s interpretational viewpoints. For example, the author explains the development of Obamacare and the issue of health insurance that would provide family services to women. When conservative legislators objected to this provision, liberal legislators proposed the Mikulski Amendment and assured conservative legislators that the amendment’s provisions did not refer to “abortion services” (p. 44); rather, the amendment provided for such necessary health coverage for women as “family planning counseling and services” (p. 44), later described as “mammograms, breast cancer, heart disease,” et al. “that can be detected with early screenings” (p. 45). The conservative legislators were not convinced solely on verbal guarantees, but nonetheless the amendment passed with sufficient votes. The author implies that the liberal legislators acted with duplicity, but he does not provide evidence for that assertion. Even though later implementation of the amendment may have resulted in far broader applications of birth control, the author’s viewpoint overlooks how legislation can change from proposal to implementation.