Clinton plan sparks frenzy

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) unveiled her long-awaited healthcare plan Monday, triggering immediate criticisms from her Democratic and Republican rivals and subsequent counterattacks from the former first lady.

{mosads}Monday’s press releases, statements and stump speeches showed that almost 15 years after Clinton first took on national healthcare, the issue still elicits a strong response and a convenient point of attack from her competitors.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) were as critical of their GOP rivals in panning Clinton’s plan, dubbed “Hillarycare 2.0” by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) and “Hillarycare, Redux” by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Clinton announced her new plan in Des Moines, Iowa, noting that most rival campaigns and Republican groups appeared to have their knives sharpened well in advance.

Clinton, in her stump speeches, often talks about the “scars” she still has to show for her first attempt to pass universal healthcare in the 1990s, and if Monday’s reactions from her rivals are any indication, she should brace for more political wounds.

Clinton’s new plan comes at a heavy price tag complete with federal mandates and vague in some key areas. She estimated it would cost $110 billion per year.

Her press release said “most savings would come through lowering spending due to quality and modernization.” The release added that employers would help finance the system while the government “will ensure that health insurance is always affordable and never a crushing burden on any family…”

Antonio Perez, the chairman and CEO of Kodak who has contributed to Clinton’s campaign this year, praised her plan in Monday’s release: “Senator Clinton’s healthcare reform plan recognizes that managing and financing America’s healthcare system is a shared responsibility between government, business and individuals.”

“My plan covers all Americans and improves healthcare by lowering costs and improving quality,” Clinton said. “If you’re one of the tens of millions of Americans without coverage or if you don’t like the coverage you have, you will have a choice of plans to pick from and you’ll get tax credits to help pay for it. If you like the plan you have, you can keep it. It’s a plan that works for America’s families and America’s businesses, while preserving consumer choices.”

Consistent with Clinton’s insistence in stump speeches that healthcare reform can only succeed by bring together a coalition that includes employers, her campaign reached out to the business community Monday. Campaign staffers staged conference calls with representatives of the National Federation of Independent Businesses and other employer groups within hours of Clinton’s speech.

Several industry groups declined to immediately comment on Clinton’s plan.

But Karen Ignagni, president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, was unimpressed: “The new Clinton plan includes important ideas to make coverage more affordable; unfortunately, some of the divisive rhetoric seems reminiscent of 1993.”

Addressing GOP criticisms, Clinton said, “They’re attacking me before I even put my plan out there. And I frankly carry that like a badge of honor. Because we’re right and they’re wrong.”

There are facets in her plan that most Republicans favor, such as the use of tax credits and using the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program as a model for other Americans.

The attacks from her Democratic rivals, however, were not limited to the specifics or lack thereof in her plan. Obama and Edwards used Clinton’s first efforts as evidence her new proposal would again fail.

“The real key to passing any healthcare reform is the ability to bring people together in an open, transparent process that builds a broad consensus for change,” Obama told the gathered members at the Service Employees International Union political action conference.

Time and again throughout the day, Obama indirectly railed against Clinton’s first and failed attempt at getting healthcare reform.

Obama said lobbyists’ influence and drug company and insurance company funds stopped Clinton’s efforts before, and only his change candidacy would “keep insurance companies from stopping us like they did in 1994.”

“We’re not going to let them stop us this time,” he said to wild applause from the crowd.

Edwards was equally harsh, hitting Clinton hard for her first attempts and her subsequent attempts to explain their failings, adding that since those attempts began in 1993, there are about 8 million more uninsured people in the country.

“The cost of failure 14 years ago isn’t anybody’s scars or political fortune, it’s the millions of Americans who have now gone without health care for more than 14 years and the millions more still crushed by the costs,” Edwards said at a Chicago meeting of the Laborers International Union of North American.

And in a double swipe at the Clintons in front of the union crowd, Edwards added: “We didn’t get healthcare, we got NAFTA.”

Edwards, Obama and other Democratic candidates all said Monday that Clinton’s plan was very similar to those they offered earlier in the year, but in most cases they contended that their plans would do more for uninsured people.

“I’m glad that, today, the architect of the 1993 plan has another care proposal — and if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then I’m flattered,” Edwards said. “But unless Sen. Clinton’s willing to acknowledge the truth about our broken government and the cost of healthcare reform, I’m afraid flattery will get us nowhere.”

Republicans were, unsurprisingly, unsparing in their attacks, perhaps dusting off many of the talking points they used in Round One.

“If you liked Michael Moore’s ‘Sicko,’ you’re going to love Hillarycare 2.0,” Katie Levinson, a spokeswoman for Giuliani, said in a statement. “Sen. Clinton’s latest health scheme includes more government mandates, expensive federal subsidies and more big bureaucracy – in short, a prescription for an increase in wait times, a decrease in patient care and tax hikes to pay for it all.”

Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said, “It’s their prerogative if they want to attack. We’re focused on actually presenting a plan and getting it done.”

Jeffrey Young contributed to this report.