A Look Back: President Clinton's Healthcare Plan

Today in class we talked about the Republican takeover of Congress back in 1994. So I thought it would be a good idea to take a look back at the events surrounding President Clinton's healthcare proposal, and the similarities and differences between the situation back then and the events going on in Washington today.

After taking office in 1993, President Clinton set up a Task Force on National Healthcare Reform, chaired by his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton. The task force and the Clinton administration came up with a plan to require all Americans to be covered by a health insurance plan. Under the proposed plan, employers would have been required to provide health insurance to their employees, and people under a certain income level would have been automatically covered.

The backlash against the proposed plan was strong. Conservatives and the healthcare industry strongly opposed the plan, while many Democrats came up with competing proposals, muddying the waters. In the end, the contentious battle facilitated massive Republican victories in the 1994 election, leading to Republican majorities in both the House and the Senate.

So what's the parallel today? Although the current proposed healthcare plan isn't nearly as extensive as the Clinton plan was, it has sparked a lot of controversy among conservatives (and between liberals) in Washington. Many conservatives predict that the election of Republican Senator Scott Brown in Massachusetts is the "writing on the wall" for Republican victories in the 2010 election, while liberals generally believe that passing reform will garner further support for the Democrats.

In the end, we'll have to wait until November to see whose right.