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Previous Volume 332:745-748 March 16, 1995 Number 11 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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Metaphors matter, as our sterile debate on the fi-nancing of health insurance demonstrates so well. In that debate the traditional metaphor of American medicine, the military metaphor, was displaced by the market metaphor in public discourse. Metaphors, which entice us to understand and experience "one kind of thing in terms of another . . . play a central role in the construction of social and political reality."¹ The market metaphor proved virtually irresistible in the public arena and led Congress to defer to market forces to "reform" the financing of health insurance in the United States.

We live in a . . . [Full Text of this Article]

The Military Metaphor

The Market Metaphor

The Clintons' Mixed Metaphors

The Ecologic Metaphor

Control and Community

Conclusions

References

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Daaleman, T. P. (2008). The Medical Home: Locus of Physician Formation. J Am Board Fam Med 21: 451-457 [Abstract] [Full Text]