Lieberman Is A Liar (And We Should Listen To Him)

Joe Lieberman appeared on Face The Nation this morning to discuss topics such as Afghanistan and, of course, health care. As Lieberman fended off allegations from Bob Schieffer that he is in the pocket of the insurance companies, he let off some lies that should not go unchallenged. Lieberman said, "The public option came out of nowhere. If you look at last years presidential campaign, Bob, no mention of it." President Obama campaigned with health care reform as his major domestic policy agenda, and the public option was one of its main assets. In fact, many liberals at the time, who are in favor of single-payer, complained that this was not going far enough.
On one hand, maybe Lieberman is right. It is true that there are broad agreements among both Republicans and Democrats on most of what needs done. This includes ending practices such as denying policies to people based on pre-existing conditions, ending lifetime and yearly caps on benefits, closing the "donut hole" in prescription drug coverage, ending the anti-trust exemptions that the insurance companies enjoy, and raising the Medicaid availability rates to at least 133% of the poverty level.
The public option has been the main source of anger on the right. In its current form, it will do little to expand coverage, and perhaps more importantly over the long term, do even less to keep premiums down. Instead of taking half a loaf on the public option, perhaps Democrats in congress should get everything else they want instead. Then, they can make a true single payer system, or Medicare for all, their main health care platform. Inevitably, premiums will continue to rise, and more Americans will lose coverage.
According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, expanding Medicaid and weakening the public option will actually save money over the long term, because the government is paying providers directly instead of issuing vouchers to low income Americans. Taken to the logical extreme, 100% enrollment in Medicaid would be more efficient than any robust public option.
So let's give Senator Lieberman the benefit of the doubt. Let's assume that he has the best interest of the American people at heart, and maybe we should drop the public option. Then we can get around to working on what liberals really want, and what Americans really needs. Health care is a right, and should be above partisan bickering. And of course, we can still kick Lieberman out of the caucus in the mean time.