WASHINGTON — Democrats circulated video Monday from a Connecticut newspaper’s interview in September showing Sen. Joe Lieberman voicing support for a so-called Medicare buy-in allowing uninsured people as young as 55 to purchase coverage.
The Connecticut independent, whose vote is critical to the health care reform bill’s prospects, threatened Sunday to join Republicans in opposing legislation permitting a buy-in.
The video from an interview with The Connecticut Post shows Lieberman talking about the health care reform proposals he has backed over the years, including during his 2006 re-election campaign.
“My proposals were to basically expand the existing successful public health insurance programs Medicare and Medicaid,” he said.
Asked about the video Monday, Lieberman said his comments were made before the Senate health care bill, which includes health insurance subsidies, was finalized.
The subsidies would make a Medicare buy-in program redundant, and they would be an additional financial burden on the Medicare program, he said. The Associated Press
