Harry and Louise return, switch sides

A fictitious couple widely credited with derailing President Clinton’s health care reform plans 15 years ago, Harry and Louise are set to reappear in a new series of television commercials. But this time, they are advocating for health care reform (Source: “TV ad's Harry and Louise demand health care reform,” Detroit Free-Press, Aug. 18, 2008)

The ads are part of a multimillion-dollar campaign set to run through the Democratic and Republican national conventions that is sponsored by Health Care First, a coalition that includes the American Hospital Association, the Catholic Health Association, Families USA and the National Federation of Independent Business.

The original insurance-industry sponsored commercials showed the middle-aged couple at their kitchen table struggling to understand a complicated government health plan. In the new ads, according to a press release, the “famous couple at the kitchen table will remind America that they are still waiting for a better way.”