Song of Sibyl’s inaugural Special Comment on the man who killed the public option and the Medicare buy-in plan for adults over the age of 55.
Seven presidents have tried to reform a health care system that everyone agrees is broken. Seven have failed. Now, at the dawn of his second year in office, President Obama is on the brink of a truly historic achievement. By the time Obama delivers his State of the Union address in the coming weeks, congress will have passed a bill that will offer tremendous government assistance to help millions finally get the health insurance they need and deserve. A bill that will end discriminatory practices by health insurers, outlaw the denial of coverage due to pre-existing conditions, and put a stop to the treachery of denying coverage when people need it most.
Yet, by many accounts……Obama was one vote away from something much greater……something that would have really shook the foundation of the for-profit health insurance industry that continues to bankrupt our both our nation’s health and prosperity.
One. Vote. Away.
The man who held that vote was, of course, Joe Lieberman — the same man that was Al Gore’s running mate in the 2000 presidential elections, went on to endorse and actively campaign with John McCain in the 2008 presidential elections, and then had his chairmanship of the Senate Arms Services Committee saved by the intervention of President Obama (even though most others in the Democratic Caucus wanted it stripped away).
And what an insidious, arrogant, and petulant creature Joe Lieberman is.
Remember in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince when Professor Snape makes the unbreakable vow to help Draco Malfoy in his quest to bring down Albus Dumbledore? Now, whenever I see Joe I imagine him making the unbreakable vow to protect the health insurance industry in their quest to destroy America. Just last week I wrote of his extensive ties to the health insurance industry in my piece “Lesson #1 from Health Care Debate: We Need Campaign Finance Reform.”:
“Even though he’s supposed to represent Connecticut, he has been recently accuses of being the “Senator from Aetna.”
Since he became a Senator in 1989, Joe has received a healthy sum of $2.4 million in campaign contributions from the health sector. Even though its true that the health insurance industry employs 22,000 people in his state, 325,500 Connecticut residents lack health care coverage (Urban Institute and Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured). I guess the health insurance people have been giving Joe more cash than the uninsured folks…. not a far-fetched idea when considering the $1.4 billion in profits the Connecticut-based Aetna raked in last year alone.”
Perhaps its because of this corruption, this unbreakable vow to protect the insurance industry in its quest to destroy America, that Joe did a complete 360 degree turn — the quintessential political flip-flop — on his position on the the Medicare buy-in plan. Not only did Lieberman campaign on the idea as the Democrats vice-presidential candidate in the 2000 election, he told his very own home-town newspaper in 2009 that he supported a plan to allow those as young as 55 to “buy-in” to Medicare (the exact same plan that he now opposes).
Say it ain’t so Joe! I beg you to run for reelection in 2012. I beg our readers to help bring you down — afterall, I bet there is a cushy seat at Aetna HQ for you to plop your skinny Jew ass right down in.
Mazel tov for killing the public option. L’Chaim for killing the Medicare buy-in. And go choke on some challah for being such a good lying sack a garbage (otherwise known as, simply, a ‘politician’).
Be angry.
- Matt
