Lieberman unveils $54b proposal on health care
Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Joseph I. Lieberman yesterday unveiled a $54 billion plan that would expand US health care coverage through federal government assistance, a proposal that seeks middle ground between more sweeping liberal reforms and the market-oriented approaches favored by the Bush administration.
With its price tag among the lowest of the health care proposals offered by Democratic candidates thus far, the plan mirrors Lieberman's generally moderate political approach, which he has repeatedly insisted is the only tack that will unseat President Bush.
Lieberman, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate in 2000, has the highest name recognition nationwide among Demcratic candidates, according to recent polls. But his moderate message -- pro-Iraq war, fiscal restraint, and family values -- has failed to spark enthusiasm in the key early primary states, New Hampshire and Iowa, where former Vermont governor Howard Dean, who opposed the Iraq war, has been this summer's runaway hit.
Indeed, Lieberman yesterday said his strategy hinges on a strong showing in the cluster of primaries on Feb. 3, after Iowa and New Hampshire, which will include more conservative states such as South Carolina, Virginia, Arizona, and Oklahoma. Lieberman was the last of the Democratic candidates to offer a health care plan, although in this post-Sept. 11, 2001, political climate, the issue's importance appears diminished compared to previous election years, said political specialists. Some polling specialists said Lieberman would gain little traction from his plan because Democratic voters would be unable to distinguish between the candidates' proposals.
"You now have a bunch of candidates who all sound like they will do something significant on health care. So voters don't have to worry about it . . . they can vote on some other issue," said Robert Blendon, a health policy professor at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Nonetheless, the affordability and accessibility of health care remains a pressing issue for millions of Americans. More than 40 million people lack insurance, about a quarter of them children. In 2001, Americans spent about $1.4 trillion on health care, a larger share of gross domestic product than most industrialized nations in the world. And both the uninsured population and overall costs continue to rise.
Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri was the first Democratic candidate to jump into the debate last spring, offering a $214 billion proposal to require employers to offer coverage in exchange for government subsidies, repealing Bush's tax cut to pay for it.
Dean's $88.3 billion plan would expand the existing federal and state health insurance plan for children living in poverty to include adults up to age 25 with incomes to about double the poverty line. Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, has proposed a $72 billion plan that would allow people to buy into the health plan used by federal government employees and subsidizing catastrophic medical costs for businesses that cover their employees. North Carolina Senator John Edwards's $53 billion plan focuses on issuing health care tax credits to families and small businesses.
Second-tier candidates former Illinois senator Carol Moseley Braun, former Cleveland mayor Dennis Kucinich and New York activist the Rev. Al Sharpton all advocate that the federal government should insure everyone, the most comprehensive and costly approach but one with little apparent political support.
The centerpiece of Lieberman's plan is the MediKids program, which would offer insurance to everyone up to age 25, regardless of income. For uninsured adults, Lieberman would create the MediChoice program, offering low-cost access to a health plan modeled on the federal employees program.
"My plan is going to combine millions of people to join together to exercise vast buying power on behalf of each and every individual," he said yesterday while unveiling his plan at a suburban Maryland elementary school.
Perhaps the most unique aspect of his plan is the American Center for Cures, a proposed government-run center that would seek to translate basic biological breakthroughs into chronic disease treatments. Lieberman would partially repeal the Bush tax cuts to help pay for all this, at a price tag of $747 billion over 10 years.
Among those on the left who care passionately about health care issues, the plans offered by Lieberman and his rivals have not generated much excitement.
Harvard associate medical professor Dr. David Himmelstein, a longtime advocate of universal coverage, said, "They're proposing things by and large that have been tried and failed."
Raja Mishra can be reached at rmishra@globe.com.
