DAVID HIMMELSTEIN, M.D.
Himmelstein is associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He said today: “Hillary Clinton is combining two failed Massachusetts plans: the [former Gov. Michael] Dukakis plan, which fell apart 20 years ago, and the [Gov. Mitt] Romney plan, which is in the process of falling apart.

“Clinton is advocating the Marie Antoinette approach to health care: ‘Let them buy their own coverage.’ She is attempting to force middle class families to buy coverage without making it affordable. Clinton wants to keep the private insurance industry in the middle of the system.” Himmelstein is co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program.

QUENTIN YOUNG, M.D.
Young is national coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program. He said: “It’s always ironic to hear Clinton talk about standing up to the insurance companies. She’d tried to work them into her plan [in the mid-’90s], which is a large part of why it failed. The biggest insurance companies actually backed her plan for a time while the smaller ones opposed it.”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167.