Media Framing of Social Welfare Programs during Status Quo Shifts

• In Event: The Dynamics of Agenda Setting in Policymaking

Abstract

In many countries, universal programs have become accepted to the point where they are entrenched in national identity. Any policy that threatens the status quo is bound to face opposition (Samuelson & Zeckhauser 1988; Fernandez & Rodrik 1991). How did proponents of universal social welfare schemes overcome resistance to change? What did pressure from the opposition look like at the time? Specifically, I analyze how proponents and opponents of health care reform framed policies right before their adoption in Canada and the United States. These policies include the Hospital Insurance and Diagnostic Services Act in 1957, the 1966 Medical Care Act, and the 1984 Canada Health Act in Canada, and Medicare, Medicaid, the 1993 Clinton Health Care Plan, the Affordable Care Act, and Medicare expansion in the United States. Through a content analysis of newspapers, government records, committee hearings, television news archives, and interest group documents, I hypothesize that frames and arguments changed as shifts in the status quo became imminent. Preliminary findings suggest that as it became clearer that the 1966 Medical Care Act was going to succeed in Canada, the opposition modified their framing and argumentation as an attempt to win some concessions. Future analyses will explore whether this finding is consistent across cases.

Author

• Ana Schugurensky, University of California, Irvine