Regional news: 
Lieberman is new ‘maverick’ in health care reform debate
Tony Ondrusek is founder and publisher of Insurance & Financial Advisor and IFAwebnews.com.
Sen. Joe Lieberman appears to be one — if not the only — Democrat-leaning legislator in the Senate (or the House, for that matter) who is seriously considering the consequences of the fed creating a government-run health plan that will “compete” with private insurers.
Lieberman’s arguments that such a plan would increase the national debt and produce massive increases in private plan premiums to make up for lower government reimbursement fees for doctors, has made some in the Democrat party uneasy. (Lieberman is a former Democrat who turned independent; however, he still caucuses with Democrats)
But Sen. Lieberman is at least open to other options. If Congress is hell-bent on enacting legislation, he contends, it should also look at alternatives to a public option plan, such as creating smaller non-profits (like many already in existence) that might not have the magnitude of a national plan, but which would satisfy the need for some of increased competition and better access. Some say it doesn’t do enough.
But Lieberman counters that such a plan should at least be considered.
“If it’s private, and there’s no federal government financial exposure, and the government’s not creating an insurance company, that’s a long way toward what I’ve been concerned about,” he is quoted as saying in a recent Washington Post article. (click here to read the article)
At least the former Democrat-turned-independent who backed the Republican John McCain in the last presidential election is willing to explore options. While some fellow liberals and even progressive groups in his own state (click here for story) are slamming him, it would be prudent for his peers to at least give this new “maverick” the consideration of hearing out his argument.
But one economist calls Congress “a bunch of gutless wonders” who don’t know the first thing about cutting costs while aiding the citizenry, so its consideration of a Lieberman plan might be highly unlikely. (click here story) Let’s hope he’s wrong.
3 Responses
- Mike Says:
December 9th, 2009 at 5:33 pmI would like to pose this question to any Senator worth their salt (assuming the senator is not a attorney). Why is TORT REFORM not a major component of this bill? Studies performed by http://www.AHealthInsuranceQuote.com and http://www.HealthInsuranceSource.net that liability insurance costs are approaching nearly one third of the operating expenses for specialty care physicians, units and facilities. Aside from medical provider costs, insurance carriers such as Humana Health Plans state that their costs of medical liability and defensive medicine accounts for nearly 10 cents out of every premium dollar collected (verified). Compare that to Humana’s reported pharmaceutical claims of 15 cents out of every premium dollar collected. Or better yet, 21 cents out of every premium dollar collected is paid back to physicians for physician treatments. Without TORT REFORM, medical provider costs will never drop.
- Debbie Says:
December 16th, 2009 at 1:19 pmI think that everyone would agree that health care should be easier to obtain. The problem comes when the government mandates what your healthcare should be. It has been proven time and again that the government is not capable of handling a responsibility such as this without messing it up completely.
- sam Says:
December 18th, 2009 at 8:13 pmHopefully, this healthcare bill will fail. Giving the government more power is foolish. This kind of a program has failed miserable wherever it has been tried. This will actually make matters much worse.
