Why the "Death Panel" Myth Wouldn't Die: Misinformation in the Health Care Reform Debate
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Brendan Nyhan
Both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama struggled to overcome widespread and persistent myths about their proposals to reform the American health care system. Their difficulties highlight the influence of factual misinformation in national politics and the extent to which it correlates with citizens' political views. In this essay, I explain how greater elite polarization and the growth in media choice have reinforced the partisan divide in factual beliefs. To illustrate these points, I analyze debates over health care reform in 1993–1994 and 2009–2010, tracing the spread of false claims about reform proposals from Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and analyzing the prevalence of misinformation in public opinion. Since false beliefs are extremely difficult to correct, I conclude by arguing that increasing the reputational costs for dishonest elites might be a more effective approach to improving democratic discourse.
©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Article
- The Scenic Road to Nowhere: Reflections on the History of National Health Insurance in the United States
- Harry Reid and Health Care Reform in the Senate: Transactional Leadership in a Transformational Moment?
- Problem Solving in a Polarized Age: Comparative Effectiveness Research and the Politicization of Evidence-Based Medicine
- Simulating Representation: Elite Mobilization and Political Power in Health Care Reform
- Why the "Death Panel" Myth Wouldn't Die: Misinformation in the Health Care Reform Debate
- After the "Housequake": Leadership and Partisanship in the Post-2006 House
- Loss Aversion and the Framing of the Health Care Reform Debate
- Public Opinion on Health Care Reform
- Why Major Health Reform in 2009-10 Won't Solve Our Problems
- Review
- Review of Presidential Party Building: Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush
- Review of Fighting for Democracy: Black Veterans and the Struggle Against White Supremacy in the Postwar South
Articles in the same Issue
- Article
- The Scenic Road to Nowhere: Reflections on the History of National Health Insurance in the United States
- Harry Reid and Health Care Reform in the Senate: Transactional Leadership in a Transformational Moment?
- Problem Solving in a Polarized Age: Comparative Effectiveness Research and the Politicization of Evidence-Based Medicine
- Simulating Representation: Elite Mobilization and Political Power in Health Care Reform
- Why the "Death Panel" Myth Wouldn't Die: Misinformation in the Health Care Reform Debate
- After the "Housequake": Leadership and Partisanship in the Post-2006 House
- Loss Aversion and the Framing of the Health Care Reform Debate
- Public Opinion on Health Care Reform
- Why Major Health Reform in 2009-10 Won't Solve Our Problems
- Review
- Review of Presidential Party Building: Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush
- Review of Fighting for Democracy: Black Veterans and the Struggle Against White Supremacy in the Postwar South
