Joe Lieberman, the independent Senator from Connecticut who caucuses with the senate democrats, announced yesterday that he would stand with republicans in a fillibuster of health reform if the bill that is presented contains the public option that Lieberman his friends and benefactors in the insurance industry oppose. The “public option” as it currently exists in the senate health reform bill, is a government-administered public insurance plan akin to the plans already administered by the government – Medicare and Medicaid. Allowing the public an alternative to private health insurance plans means competition for the insurance monopolies and their (recently challenged and hopefully soon to be revoked) anti-trust exemptions, who have been taking at least 30% of every dollar each one of their customers has paid in premiums and buying politicians like Joe Lieberman to block reform efforts instead of spending that money on things their customers actually need…like health care.
So this morning, in a WTF heard ’round the country, everyone is talking about Joe Lieberman and whether or not democrats should be worried by his apparent moonlighting as a lobbyist for the insurance industry. I think it’s Mr. Lieberman who should be worried. After all, his term is almost up. That means the choice will soon lie with the people he was elected to represent as to whether or not they want to bestow upon him the continued ability to rake in millions of dollars in campaign contributions from opponents of health reform like the insurance industry and PhRMA.
As the republicans run out of possible fabrications about the various health reform bills being considered by congressional democrats, and the heavy fog that seemed to cover the actual facts in this debate for the past few months finally dissipates, it’s clear that what the majority of Americans want is the “public option” that congressional republicans and now Senator Lieberman don’t want us to have. It’s what we’ve wanted all along, even through the summer months this year while the far right was screaming at us trying to convince us that the public option is “socialism”, and therefore evil, and that somehow by wanting to give every American citizen access to affordable health care Obama is leading us down the slippery slope to one pejorative “-ism” or another. The fact that the insurance companies were given anti-trust exemptions tells us that there is no competition in the insurance market. The insurance companies are allowed to monopolize the market, which means the public has no choice but to purchase their largely useless, wasteful and overpriced service if they want to protect themselves against the considerable financial risk of becoming ill or needing medical treatment of any kind. Insurance premiums are expensive, but nothing compared to the tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills that could result from a catastrophic and unexpected injury or illness requiring hospitalization.
It seems Joe Lieberman has forgotten exactly who it is he was elected to represent, either that or he’s getting lonely as one of the few independents in the Congress and just needs some special attention. Either way, he’s practically begging for strongly-worded letters encouraging him to get over himself and quit his new second job as a roadblock to health reform. Take a moment to sign your name to a letter I’ve written to Senator Lieberman, majority leader Harry Reid, the majority whip, and the democratic senators who sit on various committees with Mr. Lieberman and are in a position to exert considerable pressure upon him for his recent step out of line. Feel free to edit the letter to your liking.
Send a letter to Joe Lieberman and congressional democrats expressing concern over Lieberman’s threat to join a republican fillibuster of health reform.
