Hillary's Nixonian Health Plan

McClatchy Newspapers reports that Hillary's new health-care plan bears a striking resemblance to the health care plan proposed by President Richard M. Nixon:

Nixon introduced his Comprehensive Health Insurance Act on Feb. 6, 1974, days after he used what would be his final State of the Union address to call for universal access to health insurance.

“I shall propose a sweeping new program that will assure comprehensive health-insurance protection to millions of Americans who cannot now obtain it or afford it, with vastly improved protection against catastrophic illnesses,” he told America.

Nixon said his plan would build on existing employer-sponsored insurance plans and would provide government subsidies to the self-employed and small businesses to ensure universal access to health insurance. He said it would not create a new federal bureaucracy.

Fast-forward 33 years to the American Health Choices Plan, which Clinton outlined Sept. 17, and to similar plans by Democratic rivals Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

[. . .]

Like Nixon, Clinton said that her plan “is not government-run. There will be no new bureaucracy.”

Nixon’s plan did not require all Americans to purchase health insurance, as Clinton’s does. Edwards also favors government-mandated purchases of health care. Obama would mandate only that all children be insured.

Like today’s Democrats, however, Nixon sought help for small businesses and sole proprietors to pay for insurance.

Maybe that's what Bill Clinton meant when he said Hillary will bring America "back to the future." Or was it the Clintons inconsistency on supporting the war?