Action Alert: Lieberman Campaigned (see "Lied") on the Public Option

[Rusty5329]

I just received this email from the Connecticut Working Families:

Dear William,

Tell Joe: No Filibuster
http://action.workingfamiliesparty.org/t/3873/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=3034

Healthcare reform is too important to let Senator Lieberman stand in the way. Tell Joe: Don't filibuster.

Tell Senator Lieberman: No filibuster

TAKE ACTION
http://action.workingfamiliesparty.org/t/3873/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=3034

Yesterday, we were closer than ever to having real healthcare reform when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced the Senate version of the healthcare overhaul would include a public option - an affordable public healthcare plan that would be there for us, even when insurance companies let us down.

Then Senator Joe Lieberman threw a wrench in the works. He announced he'd join a Republican filibuster to halt healthcare reform.1

This is a national news story. But the only voters that Lieberman is really accountable to are in Connecticut. So let's make ourselves heard.

Tell Joe: Don't filibuster. Not this time.
http://action.workingfamiliesparty.org/t/3873/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=3034

Please help spread the word. Forward this email to a friend or share on Facebook.

If there's one thing that millions of American families are counting on from the new administration, it's healthcare reform. Especially as healthcare costs and insurance industry profits continue to grow.

We're not asking a lot. We're not even demanding he vote for a public option - just that he not single handedly stand in the way of allowing healthcare reform to get a fair up or down vote.

And it wasn't that long ago that Senator Lieberman was talking like a champion of healthcare reform.

Back in July 2006 he said: "What I'm saying to the people of Connecticut, I can do more for you and your families to get something done to make health care affordable, to get universal health insurance."2

And in October 2006, he started describing a plan that sounded a lot like the public option. "MediChoice to allow anybody in our country to buy into a national insurance pool like the health insurance pool that we federal employees and Members of Congress have."3

Healthcare reform was a good idea when Leiberman supported in back in 2006. It's an even better idea now. Today, there's a public option on the table. We're this close. Let's shout so loud we can't be ignored and tell Senator Lieberman not to filibuster.

Click here to take action right away:
http://action.workingfamiliesparty.org/t/3873/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=3034

Thanks. And please help pass the word along. Share on Facebook (http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=HH0Huq9vClKic1pG3hq4SQLWwItiHEcV) or forward this email.

-Jon Green
Executive Director
CT Working Families
www.ct-workingfamilies.org

<1> From Politico. "Joe Lieberman: I'll block vote on Harry Reid's plan" http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28788.html

<2> and <3> Both quotes come from Lieberman-Lamont debates in 2006. Both can be seen in a DailyKos video here http://www.dailykos.com/tv/w/002298/

[spartan61]

1. I wrote to Lieberman last night and today received this response:

THIS MAN IS AN IDIOT!!!


October 28, 2009

Dear Mrs. XXXXXX

Thank you for contacting me to express your opinion regarding health care reform efforts. I appreciate your taking the time to share your thoughts with me, and I want you to know that I hear and understand your concerns.

Americans today are faced with great uncertainty about their health care coverage and insurance. These concerns focus around rising medical costs, access to coverage, and quality of care. With more than 45 million uninsured Americans and health care spending levels that exceed any in the world, our current health care system is unsustainable. Too often, we reward quantity over quality. The need for health care reform is clear. We must begin to provide Americans with the high-quality, affordable health care they need.

As you may know, various health plans have begun to emerge from both houses of Congress. These initial plans outline key objectives that President Obama has stressed as essential elements to any health care reform plan, including cost reduction, preventive care, health systems modernization, and long-term care and services.

I will continue to work with my colleagues and the Obama Administration on a bipartisan basis to resolve the remaining aspects that are key to reaching an agreement. A broad coalition is needed when addressing an issue as large, and as important for our nation's citizens, as health care reform. I do feel strongly that any health care reform legislation that I support must not only be budget neutral, but also reduce health care costs over the long term for individuals, groups, and businesses and for the federal government. That is the primary reason why I oppose a public option. It would be better to first sustain the long-term solvency of Medicare and Medicaid before creating a new government-run health insurance program.

I am hopeful that Senators on both sides of the aisle will come together to achieve meaningful health care reform that expands coverage, reduces costs, and improves the quality of care for everyone.

Please rest assured that I will continue to keep your concerns and suggestions in mind as the health care reform debate continues to play out and as we move forward on this important issue. I hope you will continue to visit my website at http://lieberman.senate.gov for updated news about my work on behalf of Connecticut and the nation. Please contact me if you have any additional questions or comments about our work in Congress.

Sincerely,


Joseph I. Lieberman

UNITED STATES SENATOR

[pnwmom]

2. By definition, there is no such thing as achieving a long term solvency

for Medicaid, insurance for the poorest among us. Medicaid will ALWAYS, NO MATTER WHAT, produce a net cost to the government. The fact that Lieberman says this shows that he's not acting in good faith.

As if we needed any more evidence.

[Rusty5329]

4. I'm betting money

that this is a form letter response that they send to anyone to writes to them about healthcare. I remember writing to him about the war and getting back a form response that did not answer my direct question but just stated his general position regarding foreign policy. They don't put much time into constituency outreach at that office.

[spartan61]

5. I think you are right!

[Bitwit1234]

3. Get This he was just on TV

Saying that if all the malpractice suits were stopped it would pay for health insurance reform. That the only reason premiums and such are so high is all the lawsuits.

I am going to check now and see it I can find it. Some time ago I saw a report that said that malpractice suits only accounted for 1/10 of 01% of the cost of insurance. Now how in Hades is that little bit going to cover reform. He is sure talking up the insurance companies isn't he. Shame the whole US can't vote to recall him, even his own state can't.