Today the topic of Hillary Clinton running for president in 2008 was discussed on Crossfire. The one and only topic the Rep. congressman brought up was "Hillary Care", suggesting it was a bad idea. We need to do a couple of things now. First, we obviously don't know if she will be the nominee, but regardless we need to knock down the "Hillary Care" as a bad thing now.
In my opinion, this provides the Democratic Party with a huge opportunity to remind the publlic that we are the party that cares about the well-bieng of Americans and that we take our responisbility to the public seriously. We always talk about health care for all Americans; lets talk about it starting now.
Spcifically, lets create the positive meme about "Hillary Care". Every time the conservatives bring it up as a bad thing we respond with
"IF ONLY - right now every person in this country would be covered. Since when is that a bad thing?"
Here are some basic details of the original plan:
http://my.netian.com/~pynchon/doc/healthcare.htm
The original version of Clinton's Health Security Plan had the following key provisions:
- Universal coverage for all Americans, that is, for the uninsured Americans¾ 15% of all Americans. This was what the President emphasized the most. Actually, "the Clinton Administration has signaled its willingness to negotiate almost every element of its plan, save one: any negotiated alternative must cover everyone."
- Healthcare alliances for purchasing insurance in bulk, which will strengthen the buyers' position.
- A National Health Boarding for controlling healthcare costs, which will control escalating medical costs.
- Employer mandates for covering most of the cost of the program, which required employers to pay 80% of working families group insurance. The government will pay for subsidies for small businesses.
- A modern claims processing system to reduce paperwork, which will lessen the burden of the doctors.
- A tobacco tax(sin tax) to help fund the program.>
Here are the facts about how much the Republicans care about Americans:
http://www.doctorsandnursesforkerry.org/george_bush_has_no_real_plans_fo.htm
http://www.democrats.org/healthcare/bushrecord.html
3.7 million more Americans uninsured under Bush's watch. In 2000, 39.8 million people were uninsured. In 2002, there were 43.6 million uninsured - a 3.7 million increase. >
Under Bush, health care costs go up at four times the rate of inflation. Health care spending rose 9.3 percent in 2002 and 8.5 percent in 2001 -- more than four times the rate of inflation. >
There is no reason to wait until 2008 to start talking about our platform and our hopes for the country. By the time 2008 rolls around we need to have our vision fully fleshed out, and already understood by the public. No more "I have a plan". On this and every important topic we need to be clear about what we stand for and contrast ourselves with the conservatives.