Friday, September 14, 2007

Hillary Clinton to Outline Her Health Plan on Monday--She Will Target Insurers as the Bad Guys

Senator Clinton will unveil her health plan in Des Moines on Monday. The heavy betting is that it will look a lot like the general Democratic health reform template that draws on the recently enacted Massachusetts health reform law.

We do know this, she will do what she did in 1993 and 1994 and demonize the insurance industry. On Wednesday she said, "I intend to dramatically rein in the influence of the insurance companies because frankly I think they have worked to the detriment of our economy and our health care system."

That tack backfired big time in 1994 when the insurance industry, who took her rhetoric seriously and concluded it had nothing to lose, spent huge amounts of money countering her plan with the now famous "Harry and Louise" ads.

Would she be "dumb" enough to make the same mistake twice?

But Hillary Clinton is a smart lady and has one heck of a #1 political adviser. Her campaign so far has been a flawless political tour de force.

Underestimating her would be a mistake.

Frankly, I wish she would at least try to bring everyone under the same health care reform tent. I am sure she sincerely believes the industry deserves her treatment. But then, which of the for-profit stakeholders in this $2 trillion system is in a position to throw the first stone?

We desperately need health care reform. Why increase the already tough odds of getting anything done by going out of your way to make enemies who have incredible amounts of money and who you put in a position of having nothing to lose?

It should be interesting.

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