Clinton Reveals How Healthcare Failure Hurt Her In Secret Letter To Senator Moynihan

Hillary Clinton has long admitted to bungling universal health care in 1994, but a never-before-seen note she penned to the late Sen. Daniel Moynihan reveals how deeply she thought the failure hurt her -- and the nation.

"If I had listened to you about health care in 1994, I would be far better off today - but more importantly - so would the nation's health care system," Clinton wrote Moynihan in October 2000, near the end of her New York Senate campaign to succeed the retiring Moynihan.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[dawlishgal]

I am reading the Bernstein bio of HC, and he goes into some detail about how Mrs. Moynihan disliked and distrusted Hillary, and DPM himself wasn't all that enthused about her as a replacement for him, either..

[lysistrata]

well, maybe it all was a blessing in disguise. If we now had 20 million instead of 40 million uninsured we would still be looking for another little band aid. Maybe we would be able to deduct medical expenses on our tax returns even if we don't itemize. We would get a little repair here and there and no decent health care system at all.

Moynehan did support the higher payroll deductions for SS, the surplus which is now squandered in Iraq and he was willing to privatize SS. People do make mistakes, it is important they learn from their mistakes.

I don't trust Obama or McCain anymore than I would trust Hillary. They all are in politics.

[condew]

I wonder if there is another secret letter to big Pharma and the healthcare industry pointing to her success in killing healthcare reform for the next decade, and asking that they make good on offers of support for her campaign.

This healthcare disaster from the politically astute Clintons is the root reason why I will never trust her.

[dawlishgal]

There doesn't need to be any secret letters. Her taking of more lobbyists' money from big healthcare speaks for itself of her rewards for past failure and downpayments on future failure (if she is given yet another chance, and I sincerely hope she isn't). I was just reading a comment from Donna Shalala to the effect that Hillary refused to listen to any of the so-called experts she convened....just went her own way and did whatever she wanted to do. The members of her task force KNEW well in advance that the effort was doomed to fail, and when asked about it, they protected themselves by giving qualified statements such as "Well, this might work if somebody can figure out how to pay for it."

What monumental arrogance, and Americans are going on a decade and a half now with increasingly gouging healthcare costs and increasily irresponsible insurance companies who were emboldened by her failure into denying more and more even the most legitimate of claims.

Why anybody who worries about health insurance would be willing to give her Hillary another crack at it is beyond me.

[ladygreenslippers]

i want that letter carbon dated, and i want the handwriting analysed! a secret letter that suddenly surfaces painting her as someone who admits to her mistakes - yeah right!

[Binx101]

If Hillary Clinton had learned the lesson she'd be leading the pack right now for President and picking Obama as her VP choice. The lesson is she has a super-ego and polarizes groups of people with her lack of reason. Pat Moynihan was one of the power brokers that got her elected because he was loyal - but they begged her to at least start - but she wouldn't allow a bi-partisan effort.

Could you imagine the that she let a bird in the hand get away.

Failure. More like Catastrophe !!!!

Read more of late: http://binx101.wordpress.com/2008/04/15/hillary-clinton-defeating-herself/

Binx101
The Almost Daily Binx
www.binx101.wordpress.com

[V4Vigilance]

"All I can tell you is I learned my lessons the hard way, which makes them indelible," Clinton said...

If one of those lessons was that hubris and obstinacy when in an untenable position is a losing strategy, it apparently wasn't as indelible as she thought.

OBAMA 08

[Binx101]

That is it in a nutshell!!!

She's precisely expressing by her campaign strategy - that her admission of failure is simply untrue - and rather - more Clinton lip service. Very disappointing that a former president and former first lady have reduced themselves to a carnival act.

Binx101
The Almost Daily Binx
www.binx101.wordpress.com

[brueso]

what's odd is the article points out that demanding 100% coverage was their failure back then- but now Hillary is demanding the same thing. Hard to see that she learned anything about compromise.

[outnow]

The Clintons are in the pockets of so many special interests that they probably sold out health care long ago. Mark Penn? Please. The guy represents Blackwater and Columbia. 100 million reasons not to elect Hillary. Did Bill Clinton keep up pressure for health care or just let it die? He let it die and tried to save his own skin. He passed NAFTA over the objection of labor and the majority of Democrats. He signed the Telcom bill, he signed the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. The Clintons are pro-choice but anti-labor and anti-middle class.Their mentors are Robert Rubin of Citibank and Lawrence Summers. Throw in Alan Greenspan and Milton Friedman. These are two-faced Democrats. They should be ex-communicated from the party. Greenspan wanted to lower the deficit but then turned around and supported the Bush tax cuts. Richard Holbrooke is a neocon. Albright? Where are they hiding Albright? She is "too old" for the Clinton's image which is an aging one already.

[lowry99]

echo echo echo echo

another Obamaton on this site to congratulate themself. If you wanted a real debate you'd go wade into a different website; but no, you just want to participate in the hatestorms.

[SCharb]

She really screwed up. Her hubris causes her to fail at everything she tries and set it back twenty years. It's almost sad, really... Like a Midas Touch of regression.

[condew]

Too bad she's dragging the rest of us back 20 years with her.

[outnow]

Seems like Hillary rejected anything short of universal coverage. She now faults Obama for proposing the exact same thing that Hillary said that she "mistakenly" rejected to as stated in her own note to Senator Moynihan. Bill Clinton was too busy wasting his political capital on NAFTA. Bill Clinton told Henry Kissinger to relay to the right wingers that he would give the right wing their economic wish list, which he did. That wish list did not include universal or even near universal health care coverage. With the Clintons, the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing - so to speak. Either they don't communicate with each other or they both lie. Pulling Ken Star off Bill Clinton's back was worth so much that Bill gave away the shop - possibly behind Hillary's back but definitely behind the backs of the majority of Democrats back in 1993. Triangulating with evil is still evil - you can't dance with the devil.

[Sloane7]

I think emailing this to ABC debates tonight and asking if this is a question that will be asked would be good.

[Sloane7]

This is interesting. She is admitting that her and Bill's insistence on 100% healthcare back in 1994 with no compromises killed the whole thing and took away their ability to make incremental progress toward universal healthcare. Now she attacks Obama for his proposal of making a national healthcare [plan optional, his goal being universal healthcare while accepting that progress will need to be incremental in order to be successful. She, once again, insists on universal healthcare. In her letter to Moynihan, she said she has learned an indelible lesson. But has she? Her all or nothing approach tends to get her nothing. Clinton and Obama share the same goal of universal healthcare, but Obama is taking a pragmatic approach. Clinton slams him for it while saying earlier that it is the approach she should have taken herself.

[outnow]

You have to know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. "Luck may be my lady tonight" or maybe dedication to principles is more important. If the Clintons had stuck to principles and prosecuted George Herbert Walker Bush for Iran/Contra and Iraq/Gate, this would be a different country and a different world. Bill Clinton should have fought the right wing and represented the Democratic party. He paid dearly and so did the Democrats, and finally, the entire world. What was Bill really afraid of? Being found out about some bimbo? Ken Star was a total hypocritical jerk but a gad fly. Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton have the Stockholm syndrome, according to Robert Parry at Consortium News - now they abuse Obama. Will the Clintons pull down the Democratic party with their dirty tricks and swiftboating of Obama?

[dawlishgal]

yeah, right. It hurt her so much that she takes more in lobbyists money from the very companies that lied about her plan and killed it deader than a doornail....result is almost a decade and a half of escalating healthcare costs and more psychopathic than ever insurance companies, companies that no longer bat an eye before disallowing the most legitimate of claims.

[lowry99]

Obama learned from her lesson: he isn't even trying to get universal healthcare.

Obama: Think Compromise.

[SonofLiberty1]

So if your healthcare program isn't 100% just WHO DO YOU EXCLUDE?

[Sloane7]

Well, first you need to understand the plans before you type the word in EXCLUDE in upper case. Senator Obama proposes a healthcare plan that is optional but covers everyone that chooses to be included. Senator Clinton proposes a plan that is mandated for everyone. A mandated plan will be rejected as a nonstarter. Senator Obama's plan is more pragmatic, acknowledging that a mandate will create massive pushback. How does that EXCLUDE anyone?

[lowry99]

it excludes me, I wouldn't be covered under Obama's plan.

[pithymaxim]

the veracity of this note is in serious doubt

[oracle99]

Where did this letter come from ...and why is it so conveniently coming out now? Pardon my skepicism but this is the same woman that dodged sniper fire in Bosnia. This letter is probably another fabrication and was written by one of her staffers yesterday.

[gojackets]

It's so sad, but it's the first thing that went through my mind, also.

[Tariqahmed]

Now she has started to invoke dead people.Senator Moynihan is sadly not here to say if the superdelegate voted for her after hearing the "bitter" talk--the context of the letter in 1994 has no relevance today. It was before MONICA LEW. case.

OBAMA 08.

[dawlishgal]

Hillary is already taking dirty reward money for her failure to get us healthcare in the past and more dirty money as a downpayment on her failures in the future. Gotta wonder why the big drug companies, but HMOs and the rest of the healthcare corporate thuggery has so much faith in her that they give her more lobbyists' money than the give anybody else. Whoops, I take that back. REALLY gotta wonder why voters have any faith at all in her promises. Especially, after the crock that she and Bill handed voters in their first campaign and how quickly they betrayed their promises to unions and workers. Of course, Hillary cut her union-busting teeth on the board at Wal*Mart.