One could easily think they were listening to two anti-ObamaCare advertisements being aired anytime since the law's passage in 2010. After all, most of the issues are similar to the complaints that we are now hearing from those being currently impacted by its roll out.
These are ads from 1994 when Hillary Clinton -- at the direction of her husband, President Bill Clinton -- was trying to implement a healthcare reform of her own. A healthcare system that would have been even more impacting than ObamaCare because it would
replace an insurance-based system with one that was taxpayer-funded and government-run. So, the insurance industry, driven by shear survival instinct, ran these ads now collectively referred to as the "Harry and Louise" ads. They are greatly credited for forcing Hillary to back off any hopes of healthcare reform. Now, even two decades later, that failed attempt is not so kindly referred to as HillaryCare.
Obama and the Democrats thought they could slyly avoid a major pitfall of HillaryCare by including the insurers in the reform. As we've seen, all of the problems that were predicted in 1994 are coming true; with or without the insurers being involved and quite frankly, the way they have been treated in the roll out of ObamaCare, with all the delays and changed mandates, "Harry and Louise" may be ready for prime time again.
In 2010, the Democrats were shellacked at both the state and federal levels because of ObamaCare. In 2012, Mitt Romney feels he lost the election because of his opposition to ObamaCare. Just the opposite conclusion for the GOP wins in 2010. But Romney's problem wasn't ObamaCare so much as RomneyCare. The voters only saw RomneyCare as the prototype of ObamaCare. Therefore it was hard to believe that Romney could validly argue for the repeal of something he was both for and had signed into law.
This is why I think Hillary will have a problem in 2016. If, over the next two years, ObamaCare doesn't go through a complete metamorphosis that will make it more palatable to the voters, she's toast. HillaryCare will be hanging around her neck like a hangman's noose. All that's been done is to delay damaging parts of Obamacare so Hillary will have to face them, head on, in 2016. The Democrats seem to think the Affordable Care Act is like some fine wine that will only get better with age, but, in poll after poll, it has only lost support, making it more like a wine turning to vinegar; undrinkable by most voters.
References:
Clinton health care plan of 1993: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_health_care_plan_of_1993
Mitt Romney Thinks He Lost The Election Because Of ObamaCare: http://reason.com/blog/2013/03/04/mitt-romney-thinks-he-lost-the-election
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