Outlines of 'HillaryCare' were known before Perry wrote letter praising reform effort

By NBC's Carrie Dann

Gov. Rick Perry may face an old political ghost from his tenure as Texas Agriculture Commisioner -- a complimentary letter he wrote in 1993 to then-First Lady Hillary Clinton to urge her to consider the needs of rural residents as she drafted what would later be derided as "Hillarycare."

In the letter, dated April 6, 1993, Perry wrote to Clinton, “I think your efforts in trying to reform the nation’s health care system are most commendable."

He went on to request that the health-care task force consider the unique needs of "farmers, ranchers, and agriculture workers, and other members of rural communities."

Perry campaign strategist Dave Carney told The Daily Caller, which first reported on the letter yesterday, that Perry would not have known the specifics of the policy at the time. "The letter was at the onset of her efforts before she proposed anything," he said. "No one could have imagined the horrible monstrosity she cooked up, in fact, not to be outdone until 'ObamaCare' years later."

It is true that the precise details of the plan were unclear at the time and the process of hashing out the policy was (now infamously) opaque. But some of the broad goals of the legislation were being reported at the same time Perry was penning praise to Clinton.

According to a Los Angles Times report from April 5, 1993, the plan was designed to, in part:

* Guarantee that a uniform package of basic benefits will be available to everyone, although not all the uninsured will get this coverage right away. Among the basic benefits would be hospital and doctor services, including mental health care, and some prescription drug coverage.
* Create a standardized insurance form and bar insurers from refusing to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions, in order to enable people to change jobs-and insurers-without fear of losing coverage.
* Enact tort reforms to reduce medical malpractice litigation.
* Impose a price freeze on private-sector medical providers while the system of cooperatives is phased in, a process that could take three to five years.
* Phase in a requirement for employers to provide workers with health insurance, with government subsidies to help the smaller businesses.

Several of those objectives, including the mandate that employers provide health care for workers and the guarantee of universal benefits to everyone regardless of pre-existing conditions, are now objectionable to conservatives like Perry, who has said he wants to use an executive order to dismantle "Obamacare."

Asked if Perry would have considered "commendable" those goals, which were public at the time that Perry praised Clinton, Carney told NBC News that while "insiders" were speculating about the details, Perry was simply raising concerns about an important constituency.

"The letter is very clear," Carney wrote via email. "They were trying to reform health care and no one knew how awful the final product would become. Insiders may have speculated on what might come out of the process. Rural voices and concerns deserved to be included."

NBC's Marcie Rickun contributed to this report.

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deborah-3074274

Reducing regulation is a key for the Republican Party. Then they can rape and pillage all they want.

1 vote

#108 - Wed Aug 31, 2011 3:25 PM EDT

tony-1370498

i still don't understand why hillary isn't in jail, her and all her cover-up people...murder, bank robbery, commodities fraud

#109 - Wed Aug 31, 2011 3:26 PM EDT

Tony-649925

What I don't understand is why dubya, stuper dick and dummie rummie ain't in jail.

2 votes

#109.1 - Wed Aug 31, 2011 3:35 PM EDT

1964jv

Honestly people! I live in Texas and Perry's style is all for one as long as the one is me. President Obama is a true gentleman and believe it or not that is costing him. He chooses not to say anything bad about anyone, holds his tongue when he should probably get angry. I would like to see him be more forceful in his beliefs, standup to these right wingers and say this is just how it is going to be. I want someone that will focus on the poor, not the middle class, they are still in their homes. I worry about the population boom of the unemployed and homeless. Most homelessness now is not by choice it is by no other choice. When we have whole families living in a tent or under a bridge and have idea where that next meal will happen? Men and women that defended our country come home to no jobs and no homes! Then you get to read about the oil companies making record profits. Our country seems to want only the wealthy to survive and to hell with the rest. Do we not see we are allowing this to happen with our indifference. In the sixties we got angry and took to the streets and fought the estabishment, now we just say that's the way it is. There are more poor people out there than rich and they can make a real differnence at the polls come 2012 by voting for the person that reaches out to them and shows them that change will include them

3 votes

#110 - Wed Aug 31, 2011 3:29 PM EDT

Idaho Spud-1126196

Unfortunately, the right is busy trying to disenfranchise all those potential voters who happen to be poor.

#110.1 - Wed Aug 31, 2011 3:56 PM EDT

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