Having read commentator George Liebmann's answer to the question "can we afford Obamacare?" I was unable to determine the point of his argument — other than that things were generally a mess in Washington and likely to get worse ("The problem with Obamacare," Oct. 21).

Similar reactionary voices were also raised against Social Security and Medicare, two tremendously popular and effective federal government programs, when they were new.

James Burdick's companion piece ("We can afford Obamacare," Oct. 21), on the other hand, presented solid information from a surgeon about how the Affordable Care Act, by protecting individuals who currently lack health insurance, will ultimately lower the cost of the world's most expensive but by no means best health care system.

James D. Dilts, Baltimore