The Power of the Masses

The news media has recently reported on the passing of “landmark legislation” by the Senate on a bill that would outlaw discrimination by health insurance companies and employers based on a person’s genetic tests that might indicate they are at risk for hereditary diseases. These include breast cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and glaucoma. In the past, health insurance companies and employers have claimed that they didn’t use this information when deciding coverage or premiums for customers but evidence has shown otherwise. A vote of 95-0 on the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act came after over a decade of debate in both the House and the Senate. So why, after such a long fight, did the bill pass?

The reason sure wasn’t because the interest groups for the insurance companies stopped fighting the bill. In fact the pluralist vision of democracy is still alive and well; there are thousands of interests groups on the Hill, one of the most powerful being the health insurance lobby. In fact, the bill passed in spite of business and insurance groups working against it.

But the political climate has changed over the last decade here in the United States. Rhetoric of all the candidates for presidency includes reform for the health care system in this country and much of the public believes health care to be a key issue. With documentaries like Michael Moore’s SiCKO making its impression on popular culture, the health care industry has been a hot topic for discussion. People from both sides of the aisle have come out in favor for health care reform that is more humane and less discriminatory. This movement has challenged and apparently won against the pluralist vision, thus shifting the power to the masses, to a more plebiscitary vision. The evidence is clear: even in an increasingly polarized Congress, the Senate voted unanimously to pass this act, even in light of attempts by interest groups to stop it. The people spoke and in this case, the politicians listened. Will this be the trend in the future? We shall see. But this is certainly an example of different competing visions of democracy.