On the Cultural Foundations for Universal Healthcare: Implications From Late 20th-Century US and Canadian Health-Related Discourse

Social constructionists approach framing as a process of sense-making'' within which elites and journalists strive to produce content that resonates with their audiences. From this perspective, long-term stability in media content may be viewed as due to cultural limitations on authors' framing efforts. This article provides evidence that Canadians' consistent framing of health-related matters in terms of their common welfare was likely more a recalcitrant cause than a passive response to changes between 1965 and 1999 in their means of healthcare provision. In contrast, concomitant U. S. health-related framing alternated among economic, welfare, and other frames, leaving citizens to consider policy proposals more in terms of why'' than how'' they do or do not make sense.