Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) told Fox News today that Congress should strip the public option from the health care reform bill, and come back to the idea in three or four years.
“Take it off the table,” he said. “Come back in three or four years, if other reforms aren’t working. That’s my position and I’m sticking to it.”
Lieberman contended that the public option is “just not necessary to reform health insurance.”
The senator, who votes with the Democratic caucus, says he won’t vote for any bill with a public option in it. He said yesterday that he may help Republicans filibuster the bill.
“I hope we can all work together to get health care reform done, because we need it,” he said today. “I’m doing this because I think it’s right, and I hope people will respect me for it.”
He also stuck by his fuzzy math on the public option, claiming it’s an “entitlement program” that will be paid for with higher premiums to private insurers.