He appointed his wife to chair the Task Force on National Health Care Reform and it failed

Clinton gave a significant speech to Congress on September 22, 1993, outlining a plan for health care reform that aimed to achieve universal coverage through a federal health care program. Conservatives objected to both the propriety of the arrangement and Hillary Rodham Clinton's feminism when he named his wife to chair the Task Force on National Health Care Reform, a new position for the nation's first lady. They collaborated with lobbyists for the American Medical Association, small business associations, and the insurance sector to vehemently oppose the task force's final recommendation, the Health Security Act. Despite extensive discussions with Congress, all attempts to pass compromise legislation were unsuccessful.

The program, according to Clinton biographer John F. Harris, failed due to a lack of cooperation within the White House. Despite the Democratic majority in Congress, the initiative to establish a universal healthcare system finally failed in August 1994 when George J. Mitchell's compromise proposal was unable to secure a majority of votes. The bill's rejection represented the Clinton administration's first significant legislative setback.