Harry And Louise Back On TV, Supporting Health Care Reform (VIDEO)

WASHINGTON — Harry and Louise are coming back to television screens across the country to talk about overhauling health care. This time, they've switched sides.

TV ads featuring the fictional couple played a big role in derailing President Bill Clinton's effort to revamp the medical system in the 1990s. Back then, actors Louise Caire Clark and Harry Johnson played a middle-class couple worrying about the changes, and the ads were sponsored by the insurance industry, which was fighting Clinton's plan.

Now, they will appear in a $4 million TV campaign supporting a reshaping of health care, sponsored by Families USA, which champions affordable health care for families, and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. The two groups, often at odds, have joined forces this year to support some general principles behind revamping health care, such as making it more affordable for low-income people.

The ads begin airing this weekend and will run at least three weeks on national cable and network news shows.

In 1993 and 1994, the Harry and Louise ad campaign cost an estimated $14 million to $20 million. Fourteen spots were produced, compared to one this time.

In the new commercial, the characters discuss a need for affordable health coverage that people can keep if they change or lose their jobs. They don't mention some of the issues dividing lawmakers, such as whether there should be optional government-run insurance or requirements that employers cover their workers, or how to pay for it.

"It sounds simple enough," Harry tells Louise as they enjoy coffee at a kitchen table, just as they did in the earlier ads.

"A little more cooperation, a little less politics and we can get the job done this time," Louise says.

Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, said ads showing Harry and Louise's support for remaking health care "shows how different this health reform debate is."

In an interview, Clark, 59, and Johnson, 66, said they are Democrats who supported Clinton and back President Barack Obama.

They said that though they supported the idea of changing the health system in the 1990s, they felt Clinton's effort lacked sufficient cooperation among affected groups. They said those ads raised legitimate questions about the impact of Clinton's proposal.

"The part was written for me by the producer and director, but I never said anything I didn't believe," said Clark.

Now, Clark said she thinks it is time to overhaul the medical system and believes Obama can do it. She said she thinks their latest ad, shot in a home in Potomac, Md., outside Washington, D.C., will be their last.

"Harry and Louise are like the Energizer bunny"; they don't go away, but I don't think they're going to need us anymore," she said. "I hope not."

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Comments

[nana4g]

12:00 AM on 07/23/2009

Sorry, Harry and Louise. You are 16 years too late. You are part of the reason we are in the shape we are in now. But you still look fine. Fatter, but I hope your health and your "choice" of health plan will be there for you when you get sick. That's when they drop you, you know, when you get too sick and they need to pay up. United Health Plans posted a billion dollar gross profit today. Health care Insurances are the only industry not in need of bail outs. They continue to make obscene profits off the misery of the American people who purchase their insurances and then go bankrupt with an illness. It is the most amoral, unethical industry around and the only one that is thriving. They have so much money they can purchase politicians.

[alice09]

11:14 PM on 07/16/2009

Think of all the suffering and death that occurred as a result of the defeat of the health care initiative at that time. They played a major role. I don't want to hear from them.

[lauram]

01:36 AM on 07/17/2009

Sing it!

[sarabono]

10:49 PM on 07/16/2009

Here is an example of a Public Option Single Payer System as it is implemented in Canada. What makes this very interesting is the comments of average citizens trying to use the Canadian Health Service.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2jijuj1ysw

[fairness4all]

11:18 PM on 07/16/2009

This is just more B. S. from ignorant wingnuts.

Why is it Republicans just can't grasp the concept of sources?

[sarabono]

12:07 AM on 07/17/2009

What is wrong with interviews of Canadian citizens and opinions of Canadian citizens?

This is certainly more interesting than what I have seen on the TV regarding how this system actually works. Now I understand why my friends in Vancouver go to Seattle for much of there health care for there two young children.

[LeftCoastLarry]

09:20 PM on 07/16/2009

I'm not sure this is needed.
The majority of the general public was for health care reform when Hillary worked for it in the '90's.
Corporate influences won the day because the so-called "Liberal Media" didn't report the story honestly and the populist message wasn't given due exposure.
Things are different now. We are not held hostage by the Corporate MainStream Media and the right-wingers are having a fit.
I want straightforward facts and data unfiltered by the talking heads at FOX, ABC (FOX lite), and other corporatists with their ulterior motives.

[jsgaetano]

01:05 AM on 07/17/2009

Bingo.

The only difference between then and now is the internet. People don't have to be enslaved to the corporate media's information control.

[fairtaxplease]

09:02 PM on 07/16/2009

socialized medecine is going to be awesome! watch this video and see for your own eyes....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2jijuj1ysw

[fairness4all]

11:25 PM on 07/16/2009

You are sooooo misinformed.

[jsgaetano]

01:06 AM on 07/17/2009

I'm going to feel so sad that insurance company execs won't make billions of dollars for doing nothing more than denying health care to people.

[lazercat2008]

08:59 PM on 07/16/2009

Ha, funny story, no really, last time we totally, screwed the country for a paycheck. We're almost traitors. Really, we'll do anything for money.

[LDnearthesea]

08:49 PM on 07/16/2009

I hope the public option becomes part of the bill. And I hope it's not some stupid limit, like you have to make under say $20K a year to qualify. Repugs will try to get some sort of qualification with as low a yearly salary as possible. We need to make it clear: public option for EVERYONE, no financial limitations.

[LDnearthesea]

08:42 PM on 07/16/2009

This is called PAYBACK!

[jbrantow]

08:37 PM on 07/16/2009

Here is a link to the Frank Luntz talking points including the influence they are having.....you can see where the pro private health insurance tr0lls and (GOP leaders) on this site get their phony talking points from...

Tracking the influence of Frank Luntz’ obstructionist health care memo.
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/16/luntz-memo-capitol-words/

[LDnearthesea]

08:42 PM on 07/16/2009

Frank Luntz needs to get his a** k******!

[steppenwolfsayshi]

07:59 PM on 07/16/2009

The American Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufactuers made this ad. Interesting. Maybe they intend on doing research on cures for diseases people get in their young adulthood or that kill otherwise healthy people. That would be quaint.

[AtomIzed]

07:54 PM on 07/16/2009

Cute. Now...have the guts to show the interviews with Wendell Potter, who once served as the head of corporate communications at CIGNA: http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/16/former_insurance_exec_wendell_porter, or www.pbs.org/moyers.

[yakmeat]

12:26 AM on 07/17/2009

I just watched this interview, and it was very powerful. If there are any individuals or organizations with deep pockets who want to see real change in American health care, now is their chance to put their money where their mouth is.

Take a pile of cash, buy a bunch of air time, and run this interview (and vast amounts of commercials promoting it) on every major network you can find. Move this from PBS (which tends to attract well informed viewers who already know how screwed up things are) to "Joe Six Pack's living room. It's the clearest explanation I've seen on how the insurance industry works, and who it works for.

[PresidentRobertBooth]

07:47 PM on 07/16/2009

The American people are the biggest obstacle to public universal healthcare in the United States.


Yes, the lobby groups and private health insurance companies fearmonger

But the American people are ignorant and gullible enough to be fooled by it.

There are keywords I look for when I read the statements of public universal healthcare opponents.

When I hear those words, I know I am hearing someone who has successfully fearmongered or is a fearmongerer themselves.

Those words include: socialist, communism, Stalinism, gulag, bureaucrat, rationing...among others.

[Firbolg]

08:04 PM on 07/16/2009

Unfortunately they also include public option, single payer, universal, robust, mandate, reform, health insurance and healthcare and a lot more.
At this stage all of these words and phrases have so many meanings to different people that without elaborate qualification they have become virtually meaningless to use in a debate.
For example compare “public option” in the House bill with, say, Dr. Dean’s definition and, if you like, your own interpretation.

[Sean Tisdall]

08:04 PM on 07/16/2009

All systems with distribution of scarce goods are rationing. The question is if we're rationing along utilitarian lines (what we commonly refer to as rationed care) or along lines of willingness and ability to pay (a price system) For my money a utilitarian health system with very generous palliative care is cheaper, more effective, and brings ruin to far fewer people. Complex systems will always fail people. We have a housing system that leaves people homeless, an agricultural sector that leaves people mal-nourished, and a transportation system that makes it next to impossible for some people to get to the job they would prefer. Why would we assume that the health system would be any different?

[Firbolg]

09:07 PM on 07/16/2009

If you are not already quoting from this book you should read it.
Systemantics: How Systems Work and Especially How They Fail (Paperback)
by John gall.

[Katiebar]

09:33 PM on 07/16/2009

I tend to agree. Once government takes control of healthcare, the relationship between the government and citizens changes forever. Then, every politician can pander to one of the most sensitive areas of life, with complete control over the individual's well being in the end. Scary thought.
Once costs begin to increase out of orginal predictions, as always happens, then taxes are raised yet more. When tax increases meet reisitance, which they will, then rationing begins. This is ocurring in Canada and the UK, for example. No problem when you get a cold, but when you get cancer, and dollars are going to get large, restrictions of available care, tests, treatment, drugs, are all weighed against the projected outcome (chance of survival) and age (relative value to society).
In essense, we will be blowing up the house to fix a leak in the roof. Overwhelmingly, Americans in surveys say "no" when asked if they are in favor of universal HC IF it will effect their personal medical insurance. Which is to say, most are satisfied with the freedom of immediate medical care they now enjoy.
But yes, most people want to help cover those who can not afford coverage now. That could be solved in a simpler way, such as expanding the role of VA hospitals, funded so that the needy could access medical care under a tax paid-for program. This would keep government out of the medical lives of 85%-90% of the populace, and cost far, far less.

[NKR]

07:44 PM on 07/16/2009

They should have apologized for being tools of right-wing propaganda back then. I guess there's nothing they won't do for a fat paycheck.

[LDnearthesea]

08:45 PM on 07/16/2009

Luntz will say ANYTHING for money!

[aspertame2]

07:43 PM on 07/16/2009

If the issue of health accessibility means anything to these actors - anything at all - they should be filmed on camera talking about doing the "Harry & Louise" ad, and what has changed for them - in their minds, if anything, beyond cashing a paycheck.

For me, too, there is just a really bad vibe to this vapid revival of the fictional "Harry & Louise" characters. Also a really bad vibe to the current top secret (you'd think) legislation being worked on -- I don't care a damned about bipartisanship when bipartisanship means that the healthcare companies get an equal say in it with the American people. And probably get to preview what gets proposed first. Pay attention, voters. No one works for us.

[Gmoney1]

07:41 PM on 07/16/2009

they want to stay under that rock - let um - we're moving on -