Last updated on: 6/7/2018 | Author: ProCon.org

Tom A. Coburn, MD Biography

Title:
Former US Senator (R-OK)
Position:
Con to the question "Is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) Good for America?"
Reasoning:

“[T]he new health law fails to address the top health care concerns of the American people…

Since passage, each week has brought new information about the unintended consequences of Congress‘ government-takeover of health care. Health plans are changing. Premiums are increasing. Physicians are dropping out of Medicare…

[T]this law will exacerbate current problems in health care and could make them even worse.”

Cowritten with John Barrasso, “Bad Medicine: A Check-UP on the New Federal Health Law,” www.heartland.org, July 2010
Involvement and Affiliations:
  • Nick Ohnell Fellow, Manhattan Institute
  • Member, US Senate (R-OK), 2004-2015
  • Member, Senate Judiciary Committee, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Intelligence Committee, the Indian Affairs Committee and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
  • Member, National Republican Congressional Committee
  • Member, Promise Keepers
  • Co-chair, Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, 2001-present
  • Member, American Academy of Family Practice, American Academy of Otolaryngic Allergy, and the American Medical Association
  • President, East Central County Medical Society
  • Member, US House of Representatives (R-OK), 1995-2001
  • Family Medicine Practice, 1983-1995
  • Manufacturing Manager, Ophthalmic Division of Coburn Optical Industries, 1970-1978
  • Board Member, Better Vision Institute, 1967-1977
  • Board Member, Optical Manufacturers’ Association, 1973-1974
Education:
  • MD, University of Oklahoma Medical School, 1983
  • BS, Accounting, Oklahoma State University, 1970
Other:
  • Born March 14, 1948 in Casper, Wyoming
  • Member, First Baptist Church
  • Ordained Deacon, Southern Baptist
  • Married to Carolyn Denton, the 1967 Miss Oklahoma
  • Father of three daughters
  • Has delivered nearly 4,000 babies during career in obstetrics
Quoted in:
  1. Will the health insurance exchanges benefit consumers?
  2. Would medical malpractice reform (tort reform) significantly reduce the cost of health care?