Despite all the scary, silly talk of “socialism” in the presidential campaign, President-elect Barack Obama and his Democratic Congress will not move to nationalize the health insurance industry after he is sworn into office on Jan. 20. However, he is likely to launch the most serious effort to reform the way health care is insured in this country since First Lady Hillary Clinton's ill-fated drive under her husband's administration.
Back then, the Clinton initiative was undermined by an industry-funded ad blitz featuring the fictional “Harry and Louise,” expressing alarm over how the government was going to tell them which doctors they could and couldn't see.
The mood toward health care reform is quite different these days–not surprising, since 47 million don't have any coverage. Indeed, the Harry and Louise characters were miraculously reborn as reform advocates in an ad campaign launched by a consortium of groups, including the National Federation of Independent Business and the American Hospital Association.
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