Harry and Louise are back! And, as we've mentioned before, they're pro-reform this time.

Families USA and PhRMA recently announced a team up for a $4 million ad buy, so prepare for Harry and Louise to come back on the air in a big way.

As you may recall, Harry and Louise were the face of the anti-reform movement when Bill Clinton attempted to reform the health care system in the early nineties. During their time in the national spotlight in 1994, they were a focal point for the public fear that health reform would hurt, rather than help, the American people. The original Harry and Louise ads featured a middle class couple sitting at their kitchen table, discussing their fears that "Sometime In The Future," faceless government bureaucrats were going to take away their health care choices. "Having choices we don't like is not choice at all," Louise lamented.

In February of this year, before health reform lit up the national agenda, Kaiser Health Tracking Polls show that Americans had the same worries -- health care reform will help others, but it probably won't help me. With more and more policy specifics for health reform legislation coming out everyday, President Obama has promised the American people that there are benefits in there for them. Successful health care reform will help everyone, by guaranteeing lower costs, higher quality, and better access to care.

In 2008, they returned during the presidential election, this time lamenting the high costs of health care and the problems with consistency of health coverage for all Americans. They sent the message that health care reform is an urgent necessity, rather than a danger. Louise advised the candidates, "whoever the president is, health care should be at the top of his agenda. Bring everyone to the table, and make it happen."

This statement has proven oddly prophetic. Right now, health care is President Obama's top legislative priority, and he certainly has brought a lot of people to the table -- including, most recently, the AMA. They endorsed the House's health care bill earlier this week.

And now they're back again, this time calling for quality, affordable health care coverage that won't be denied to those with pre-existing conditions or disappear when Americans change or lose their jobs. You can view the ad here or below (or on your TV Sometime In The Future).

The original Harry and Louise ads set up an unhappy choice for the American people -- keep the coverage you have now, or face the unknown (and by implication awful) consequences of health care reform. But now we know the consequences of not reforming the health care system are far worse than any "unknown." And we do know what reform means, because we've seen it in action in high-performing health systems all across the United States. It means lower costs for everyone, and better quality care.

Harry and Louise have proven to be a surprisingly good barometer for the state of health care reform in the U.S., so it's nice to hear Harry say "this time, we might finally get health care reform."

We're right there with you, Harry.