Aides: Obama healthcare not 'Hillarycare'

WASHINGTON, March 5 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama's White House healthcare summit Thursday shows he learned from Clinton administration gaffes on healthcare reform, aides say.

Most obvious, Obama is keeping Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at arm's length because the earlier plan, strongly associated with her when she was first lady, retains a cloud over it 15 years after it imploded, the aides told The New York Times.

The half-day summit -- bringing together consumers and providers, business and labor, insurers and drugmakers -- is "the manifestation of a series of learned examples, learned lessons," a litany of health policy do's and don'ts, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told the newspaper.

Among the do's and don'ts: The Clinton administration drafted its plan in secret and delivered it to lawmakers as a done deal, aides said. Obama is out in the open, and only articulating broad principles while leaving the details to Congress.

President Bill Clinton waited 11 months after taking office to roll out his plan, a delay many Democrats say was a death sentence. Obama, by contrast, is moving ahead after six weeks.

Clinton focused on healthcare access, while Obama is framing the debate in terms of cost, the aides told the newspaper.

In addition, Clinton's plan left an impression U.S. citizens would have to switch doctors. But Obama's message is, "If you are happy with what you have, you can keep it," senior adviser David Axelrod said.