Ep. 41: The Moral Poverty of Capitalist Healthcare Framing

"Healthcare marketplaces,” “private insurers competing for your business,” “insurance subsidies,” For years, Democrats bet big on framing the healthcare debate using technocratic, capitalist terms––they weren’t going to radically change the system of healthcare, simply accent the existing private insurance-based model making things “smarter,” “easier,” more “tech-driven.”

As the Affordable Care Act faces continued right-wing attacks and liberal-leaning activists increasingly look to single-payer, efforts to radically shift the healthcare system require--before they can really go anywhere--a radical shift in how we talk about healthcare. 

On this episode, we ask: How can activists rewire the public’s brains when it comes to the topic of healthcare? How can the rhetorical tics of the past be retired, and how can the conversation about healthcare shift from a technical problem to a moral imperative? 

We are joined by researcher and writer Natalie Shure.

Guest

Natalie Shure is a researcher, writer and TV producer whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Times, Slate, Jacobin, Pacific Standard and elsewhere. Follow her @nataliesurely.

Show Notes

Model Consumers

Natalie Shure | February 26, 2018 | Jacobin

Restraining the Health Care Consumer: The History of Deductibles and Co-payments in U.S. Health Insurance [PDF]

Beatrix Hoffman | Winter 2006 | Social Science History

Framing choice: The origins and impact of consumer rhetoric in US health care debates [PDF]

Nancy S. Lee | June 10, 2015 | Social Science & Medicine

Down With the Copay

Natalie Shure | October 6, 2017 | Jacobin

The Feminist Case For Single Payer

Natalie Shure | December 8, 2017 | Jacobin

We Don’t Need More Competition

Jon Walker | March 6, 2018 | Jacobin

***

References

How We Spend $3,400,000,000,000

T.R. Reid | June 15, 2017 | The Atlantic

Can Consumers Be Smart Health-Care Shoppers?

The Wall Street Journal | April 11, 2017

Are You A Patient Or A Healthcare Consumer?

Robert Pearl | October 15, 2015 | Forbes

Consumer Decisionmaking in the Health Care Marketplace [PDF]

RAND Corporation | 2016

Patient-as-consumer dynamics reshaping healthcare markets

Ned Pagliarulo | December 22, 2015 | HealthCareDive

Consumers vs. patients: Healthcare's biggest misunderstanding

Becker's Hospital Review | February 18, 2015

The Patient-to-Consumer Revolution

Tom Main and Adrian Slywotzky | 2014 | Oliver Wyman

The birth of the healthcare consumer [PDF]

Strategy& | 2014

****

Transcript

A full transcript of this episode can be found here.

*****