2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Yes, Millennials also cost us the election. [View all]Dems to Win
(2,161 posts)He had a Democratic Congress and Senate, he had campaigned on it, it was time!
Hillary was put in charge of the White House Task Force. She disappeared into a maze of insurance company execs and health care theory, while the Clinton Administration twisted arms in Congress to pass a budget, which did include increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit, a good and lasting benefit of the Clinton Administration. Then, the Clinton Administration turned to twisting arms in Congress to get NAFTA passed, heavily opposed by labor unions and progressives. They got it, of course.
Hillary never got a full health plan written and put up to a vote in Congress. It wasn't the number one priority of the Administration. When the Republicans took over after two years, the issue was dead.
I don't know whether or not Hillary cares about health care, I don't know her heart. I do know that she failed to deliver health care reform and universal health care after we truly did believe we had voted for it.
I can never let the record go uncorrected when people say Hillary tried to get single payer health care. I was a single payer activist in the 90s, and I was very frustrated with Hillary's refusal to discuss or consider the benefits of single payer health care.