Harry and Louise: 14 years later
-
- August
- 19
The year was 1994 and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was promoting a complicated and controversial plan for universal health coverage on behalf of her husband’s administration.
The plan failed to gain political traction for many reasons, but one major factor was a series of television ads featuring a typical middle-class American couple named Harry and Louise. In one memorable ad, the couple sat at their kitchen table for a discussion that heaped fear into the hearts and minds of Americans that they could end up paying more for less health coverage.
The National Federation of Independent Business, which was part of the 1994 coalition responsible for those ads, is at it again in 2008.
The new TV ad features the same actors.
But the message is different.
“Whoever the next president is, health care should be at the top of his agenda,’’ says Louise in the 30-second spot featuring the same kitchen table scene.
NFIB is part of a new coalition that includes the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Hospital Association, the Catholic Health Association and Families USA.
In a press release, the coalition announced it would be running the new ads during both the Democratic and Republican political conventions later this month.
According to Todd Stottlemyer, president of NFIB, â€Å“The healthcare situation has reached crisis levels. Our nation’s job creators – the small business owners and mom and pop stores in our communities – are struggling with unsustainable and ever-increasing healthcare costs.’’
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 3:49 pm by Brian Tumulty.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
| 
Email This
