Talking About Health Care: News Framing of Who Is Responsible for Rising Health Care Costs in the United States

This content analysis examines how the American news media have presented the problem of high and rising health care costs, looking particularly at the question of who is responsible. More specifically, the authors examine how often the media have discussed the 5 major causes of the problem: (a) patients, (b) health care providers, (c) insurance companies, (d) the government, and (e) pharmaceutical companies. Results revealed that patients were most often mentioned as the cause of increasing health care costs. The authors also found that the media's attribution of responsibility to patients has increased over the years. Overall, media coverage of rising health care costs peaked in 1993, 2004, and 2009, suggesting that coverage was influenced by newsworthy events (e.g., the president endorsing legislation or signing a bill into law) that draw the public's attention.