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Framing the Debate: Both sides of the US healthcare reform debate use similar rhetoric to sell their positions
Communication Director (2010)
  • Emily West, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract

The Obama administration's pitch to reform healthcare can best be viewed as an awkward dance between free market ideology, in which people are atomized consumers of healthcare, and a desire to address the common good. The taken-for-granted nature of the consumer frame is suggested by the occasions on which healthcare is explicitly compared to other kinds of consumer goods, by both those who support and oppose the proposals for reform. Given the importance of the healthcare consumer in the reform debates, it is no accident that the Obama administration de-emphasizes the uninsured, and emphasizes the escalating costs and lack of health security experienced by middle class, working families who are insured, and who have contributed financially to their health coverage. US healthcare reform is being tied to the idea of consumer rights, rather than human rights or the rights that accompany citizenship.

Keywords
  • Framing,
  • Healthcare Reform,
  • Consumerism
Publication Date
February, 2010
Citation Information
Emily West. "Framing the Debate: Both sides of the US healthcare reform debate use similar rhetoric to sell their positions" Communication Director (2010)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/emily_west/17/