The doctors don't like [national health insurance]. The hospitals don't like
it. The drug companies don't like it, and the insurance companies don't like
it. ¹

Representative Pete Stark of California

During 1993 and 1994, Clinton failed in his campaign to secure the establish-
ment of national health insurance for four major reasons: first, the health care
industry has traditionally opposed the program, and has the political resources
to prevent its adoption; second, popular support for Clinton's national health
insurance plan, while initially strong, faded as opponents of the president's pro-
gram organized a successful public relations campaign to defeat it; third, the
business community, with few exceptions, opposed the Clinton plan, depriving
the president of a critically important constituency vital to the achievement of
health care reform; and fourth, the Democratic Party was deeply divided over
what kind of national health insurance program should be established, dealing
a fatal blow to Clinton's ability to build a Democratic majority in the 103rd
Congress behind any single health care reform plan. Opposition from the health
care industry, business, and a plurality of the public, combined with deep di-
vision within the Democratic Party over the issue of national health insurance,
collectively served to derail Clinton's medical reform initiative.

The single, central, overriding obstacle which has consistently prevented the
establishment of national health insurance is the health care industry's strident,
vociferous, and unwavering opposition to the program. The industry has had a

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