Clinton Library Docs: When The Clinton W.H. Was Worried About Overpromising Americans Could Choose Their Doctors & Plans
In A 1994 White House Memo, Clinton Aides Worried About Over-Promising That People Would Be Able To Choose Their Doctors And Health Plans Since “We Know Full Well We Won’t Deliver.” “We have a line on p. 10 that says ‘You’ll pick the health plan and doctor of your choice.’ This sounds great and I know that it’s just what people want to hear. But can we get away with it? Isn’t the whole thrust of our health plan to steer people toward cheaper, HMO-style providers? It’s one thing to say we’ll preserve your option to pick the doctor of your choice (recognizing that this will cost more), it’s quite another to appear to promise the nation that everyone will get to pick the doctor of his or her choice. And that’s exactly what this line does. I am very worried about getting skewered or over-promising here on something we know full well we won’t deliver.” (White House Memo, 1/22/94)
