Hillary Care, 2.0

by Colin Mason Population Research Institute
In 1993, Hillary Rodham Clinton, then First Lady of the United States, had a plan to revolutionize health care in this country. To that end, husband Bill named her chairwoman of the "Task Force on National Health Care Reform," a heretofore unprecedented level of official power to be given to any First Lady.
Mrs. Clinton's plan was drastic medicine: the United States government would mandate health insurance for everyone. Those who couldn't pay would have their premiums paid for by the government, that is to say, by the rest of us.
The goal of this heavy-handed manuever was to eliminate America's millions of uninsured. To be fair, it would have probably accomplished this goal, albeit at an astronomical cost to taxpayers and their rights. It also would have eliminated free clinics, the medical services provided at no cost to indigents by the thousands of county hospitals across the United States, and countless charitable activities carried on by private individuals.

Karl Mark and Freidrich Engels:Intellectual revolutionaries, masterminds of socialism, and the spiritual fathers of HillaryCare.

Conservatives dubbed the measure "HillaryCare" and declared that it would socialize medicine. Liberals didn't call it that, but a good number of them believed that it would seriously curtail the freedom to choose one's provider. Pro-lifers saw it as a Trojan Horse for the introduction of taxpayer funded abortions, and the means by which all physicians would be required to either perform, or refer for, abortions.
These grouped joined together to attack the plan. So strong was their collective resistance that not only did HillaryCare 1.0 die an ignominious political death but, through this struggle, the Republicans gained the impetus they needed to take back Congress and eventually the White House.
Over a decade has passed, and now Hillary is running an aggressive campaign to become America's first female president. Once again, government health care is at the top of her agenda. How does HillaryCare 2.0, as it has come to be called, differ from the previous version?
The National Health Service is costly and inefficient, characterized by long waiting periods and outdated treatments.
Mrs. Clinton says she wears the "scars" from her 1993 health care debacle like badges of honor. She claims to have learned a lot from her mistakes. She has adopted a rhetoric of "choice," and speaks of putting the "consumer in the driver's seat." The reality, however, is that HillaryCare 2.0 is the same old plan.
If adopted, the plan will still make health insurance mandatory for all American citizens. It will still destroy the legitimate competition that keeps insurance prices relatively low. And it will still, if Hillary has her way, open the door to government-funded abortions for all.

Moreover, it will cost even more money this time around. Hillary says $110 billion, but this is surely a gross underestimate. Where will the money for this new Clintonian enterprise come from? The pockets of America's middle class, of course.
One has only to look at Great Britain, which has had centralized health care since 1947, to understand where HillaryCare 2.0 will lead us. The National Health Service is costly and inefficient, characterized by long waiting periods and outdated treatments.
Most importantly, from our point of view at PRI, is the danger that this new plan would entail for Life. Hillary is a hard-line pro-abort. A government-run health care system in her hands would surely spell disaster for babies, and put tremendous pressure on conscientious doctors and pharmacists to cooperate with abortions.
Greg Clovis, who heads Family Life International-U.K., PRI's sister organization in London, has this to say: "The British government-run insurance plan finances around 80% of the country's abortions, in addition to paying for such services as sex-change operations. British Medical Service abortionists perform most of the country's abortions."
If "HillaryCare" becomes law, we have no reason not to expect the same to occur here. Certainly Hillary makes no secret of her adamant support for "reproductive rights," and her intention to include such "rights" in any legislation she introduces, including health care. She reportedly told the head of Planned Parenthood here in Washington, D.C. that Americans need to "includ[e] ... issues related to reproductive health in any debate about health care reform ... changing our laws and changing the attitudes here in Washington, so that you can do the job you try to do and do so well."
This is agenda-based health care, not choice-based health care. Those who are concerned about the Life issues should oppose it.
Colin Mason is the Director for Media Production at PRI.

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