Jilani writes: "Two doctors who met privately with Hillary Clinton during
the 1993 health reform debate say she agreed that single-payer healthcare
would be good for Americans."
First Lady Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders talking about health care
reform in 1993. (photo: Bernie Sanders 2016)
In 1993 Meeting, Hillary Clinton Acknowledged "Convincing Case" for Bernie's
Health Plan
By Zaid Jilani, The Intercept
16 January 16
Two doctors who met privately with Hillary Clinton during the 1993 health
reform debate say she agreed that single-payer healthcare would be good for
Americans. Their recollections raise questions about both the motive and the
sincerity of Clinton's recent assault on Democratic presidential rival
Bernie Sanders for supporting such a system.
Until Clinton's pivot, the accepted Democratic view was that single-payer
was the best solution in theory, but that it was politically unrealistic.
Clinton's new critiques, by contrast, are an attempt to make Sanders's
single-payer proposals sound costly and destructive.
Shortly after President Bill Clinton took office, Hillary Clinton was tasked
to assemble a health care reform proposal. As a part of that process, she
met with advocates of different approaches, including two physicians who
advocated for a single-payer system, in which the government, rather than
private insurers, pays for all healthcare costs
"I'm not sure who arranged the meeting to be honest, I think there was
pressure to have the meeting from Sanders [then a member of Congress] but
also from [civil rights leader] Jesse Jackson," David Himmelstein, who today
is a lecturer at Harvard Medical School, told The Intercept. "What I know is
we got a call from Ira Magaziner's office. Ira Magaziner was Hillary's
right-hand man [in the health reform debate]." Magaziner wanted the
single-payer advocates to have their say with the First Lady.
Himmelstein described an intimate meeting with Clinton that also included
fellow single-payer advocate Steffie Woolhandler and only "one or two aides"
in the White House executive office building. The meeting went on for
several hours, with Clinton asking both doctors a flurry of questions.
"We had very substantial time to make that case and it was a very friendly
conversation, it was not an antagonistic conversation in any way," said
Himmelstein.
"Towards the end of the session after we had gone back and forth with Mrs.
Clinton about the details and the advantages and some of the questions she
had about it, she said, 'You make a very convincing case that single-payer
would be a good reform, but is there any force on the face of the earth that
would counter the money the insurance industry would spend to defeat it?' "
Himmelstein said he replied that the presidential bully pulpit would be the
counterweight - an argument that did not end up convincing Clinton of the
political feasibility.
"She was definitely implying that, that she would endorse it but that it was
unrealistic," added Woolhandler.
But both Himmelstein and Woolhandler did note that Clinton was clearly
impressed by the data presented to her, and said she used it to decry the
administrative costs of private health insurance at a speech at the
Institute of Medicine a few months later.
In that speech, as documented in the book The Unique Voice of Hillary
Clinton: A Portrait in Her Own Words, Clinton called for the need to
"achieve savings and eliminate inefficiencies". In a speech a month later at
Marshall University on November 4, 1993, she went further. "If we had done
what Harry Truman wanted us to do back then, we would be a lot better off,
both financially and in our ability to provide every American with health
care," she said. Truman proposed a single-payer universal health care
program financed by taxes on all working Americans.
Since then, of course, the Affordable Care Act passed, shepherded by
President Barack Obama, who shifted from his initial advocacy for a
single-payer plan to saying he would favor one if we were "starting from
scratch," but did not believe the program was feasible in the circumstances.
Clinton's campaign is now accusing Sanders of wanting to "dismantle
Obamacare" as well as Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health
Insurance Program. During an appearance on The Rachel Maddow Show, the
candidate claimed the Sanders single-payer plan would "end all the kinds of
health care we know."
These claims drew a "mostly false" from Politifact; the Sanders program
wouldn't eliminate these programs so much as expand and consolidate them.
Just as the merger of two companies does not abolish or dismantle either
company, consolidating Medicaid and Medicare while expanding them to all
Americans would not eliminate them.
Another thing that has changed since 1993 is that the health care industry
has lavished both Clintons with money. That includes $2.8 million in fees
from paid speeches Hillary Clinton gave since stepping down from the State
Department in 2013. Her husband continues to give paid speeches, including
one to the health insurance lobby this past summer.
The Intercept asked both Himmelstein and Woolhandler what they thought about
Clinton's newfound opposition to the substance of a single payer program.
"It's disingenuous," replied Woolhandler. "She ought to know better. In
fact, I think she does know better. What this is is a political ploy that
she thinks she can score some points from, apparently."
The Sanders campaign responded to her attacks on his health policy this week
by releasing a photo from a meeting between Sanders and Clinton from around
the same time she met with the two doctors. Underneath the photograph,
Clinton wrote: "To Bernie Sanders with thanks for your commitment to real
healthcare access for all Americans and best wishes - Hillary Rodham
Clinton, 1993."
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
First Lady Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders talking about health care
reform in 1993. (photo: Bernie Sanders 2016)
https://theintercept.com/2016/01/16/in-1993-meeting-hillary-clinton-acknowle
dged-convincing-case-for-single-payer/https://theintercept.com/2016/01/16/in
-1993-meeting-hillary-clinton-acknowledged-convincing-case-for-single-payer/
In 1993 Meeting, Hillary Clinton Acknowledged "Convincing Case" for Bernie's
Health Plan
By Zaid Jilani, The Intercept
16 January 16
wo doctors who met privately with Hillary Clinton during the 1993 health
reform debate say she agreed that single-payer healthcare would be good for
Americans. Their recollections raise questions about both the motive and the
sincerity of Clinton's recent assault on Democratic presidential rival
Bernie Sanders for supporting such a system.
Until Clinton's pivot, the accepted Democratic view was that single-payer
was the best solution in theory, but that it was politically unrealistic.
Clinton's new critiques, by contrast, are an attempt to make Sanders's
single-payer proposals sound costly and destructive.
Shortly after President Bill Clinton took office, Hillary Clinton was tasked
to assemble a health care reform proposal. As a part of that process, she
met with advocates of different approaches, including two physicians who
advocated for a single-payer system, in which the government, rather than
private insurers, pays for all healthcare costs
"I'm not sure who arranged the meeting to be honest, I think there was
pressure to have the meeting from Sanders [then a member of Congress] but
also from [civil rights leader] Jesse Jackson," David Himmelstein, who today
is a lecturer at Harvard Medical School, told The Intercept. "What I know is
we got a call from Ira Magaziner's office. Ira Magaziner was Hillary's
right-hand man [in the health reform debate]." Magaziner wanted the
single-payer advocates to have their say with the First Lady.
Himmelstein described an intimate meeting with Clinton that also included
fellow single-payer advocate Steffie Woolhandler and only "one or two aides"
in the White House executive office building. The meeting went on for
several hours, with Clinton asking both doctors a flurry of questions.
"We had very substantial time to make that case and it was a very friendly
conversation, it was not an antagonistic conversation in any way," said
Himmelstein.
"Towards the end of the session after we had gone back and forth with Mrs.
Clinton about the details and the advantages and some of the questions she
had about it, she said, 'You make a very convincing case that single-payer
would be a good reform, but is there any force on the face of the earth that
would counter the money the insurance industry would spend to defeat it?' "
Himmelstein said he replied that the presidential bully pulpit would be the
counterweight - an argument that did not end up convincing Clinton of the
political feasibility.
"She was definitely implying that, that she would endorse it but that it was
unrealistic," added Woolhandler.
But both Himmelstein and Woolhandler did note that Clinton was clearly
impressed by the data presented to her, and said she used it to decry the
administrative costs of private health insurance at a speech at the
Institute of Medicine a few months later.
In that speech, as documented in the book The Unique Voice of Hillary
Clinton: A Portrait in Her Own Words, Clinton called for the need to
"achieve savings and eliminate inefficiencies". In a speech a month later at
Marshall University on November 4, 1993, she went further. "If we had done
what Harry Truman wanted us to do back then, we would be a lot better off,
both financially and in our ability to provide every American with health
care," she said. Truman proposed a single-payer universal health care
program financed by taxes on all working Americans.
Since then, of course, the Affordable Care Act passed, shepherded by
President Barack Obama, who shifted from his initial advocacy for a
single-payer plan to saying he would favor one if we were "starting from
scratch," but did not believe the program was feasible in the circumstances.
Clinton's campaign is now accusing Sanders of wanting to "dismantle
Obamacare" as well as Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health
Insurance Program. During an appearance on The Rachel Maddow Show, the
candidate claimed the Sanders single-payer plan would "end all the kinds of
health care we know."
These claims drew a "mostly false" from Politifact; the Sanders program
wouldn't eliminate these programs so much as expand and consolidate them.
Just as the merger of two companies does not abolish or dismantle either
company, consolidating Medicaid and Medicare while expanding them to all
Americans would not eliminate them.
Another thing that has changed since 1993 is that the health care industry
has lavished both Clintons with money. That includes $2.8 million in fees
from paid speeches Hillary Clinton gave since stepping down from the State
Department in 2013. Her husband continues to give paid speeches, including
one to the health insurance lobby this past summer.
The Intercept asked both Himmelstein and Woolhandler what they thought about
Clinton's newfound opposition to the substance of a single payer program.
"It's disingenuous," replied Woolhandler. "She ought to know better. In
fact, I think she does know better. What this is is a political ploy that
she thinks she can score some points from, apparently."
The Sanders campaign responded to her attacks on his health policy this week
by releasing a photo from a meeting between Sanders and Clinton from around
the same time she met with the two doctors. Underneath the photograph,
Clinton wrote: "To Bernie Sanders with thanks for your commitment to real
healthcare access for all Americans and best wishes - Hillary Rodham
Clinton, 1993."
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http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
