Remember this when you pay for that prescription
A decade ago, while at the Treasury, I worked on the (greatly imperfect) Clinton health-care reform effort. And I remember why many of the Republicans opposed us: not because they were afraid that health-care reform would fail to produce better health care at lower cost, but because they were worried that health-care reform might succeed. The Clinton health-care reform plan was to be opposed "sight unseen," for a successful health-care reform would "revive the reputation of the [Democratic] Party" and win the Democrats "a lock on the crucial middle-class vote."
NewsHour Online: The Healthcare Debate: December 2, 1993 - Leading conservative operative William Kristol privately circulates a strategy document to Republicans in Congress. Kristol writes that congressional Republicans should work to "kill" -- not amend -- the Clinton plan because it presents a real danger to the Republican future: Its passage will give the Democrats a lock on the crucial middle-class vote and revive the reputation of the party.... January 25, 1994: Oppose any Clinton health care reform "sight unseen" and adopt a stance that "There is no health care crisis."
