The Contemporary Discourse on Health Care Cost: Conflicting Meanings and Meaningful Conflicts

Abstract

Discussion of health care costs has expanded beyond the technical domains of accountancy and entered the realms of public discourse. Analyses this discourse through an examination of all the stories published in The New York Times between 1 April 1992 and 1 May 1993 which contained the phrase “health care costs”. Describes the current discourse and examines how antagonostic social interests strive to inscribe the concept of health care cost with conflicting meanings and ideological accents.