Joe Lieberman: Expanding Affordable and Quality Health Care
Throughout his career, Joe Lieberman has fought to extend quality, affordable health care to all Americans. He believes it is an insult to the American Dream that the richest nation in the world now leaves some 41 million of its people, including more than 8 million children, stranded without health insurance. As President, he will fight to guarantee access to quality, affordable health care for all Americans.
Advancing Universal Health Care. Joe Lieberman voted to create the highly successful Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP) and in 2000 fought alongside Al Gore to expand that program so that, within five years, no American child would be uninsured and their parents could also enroll in the program.
Ensuring Quality Care. Joe Lieberman has a long record of ensuring quality health care. Lieberman supports a patient’s bill of rights to hold HMO’s accountable, he sponsored a law to require Medicaid managed care plans to issue report cards to give consumers the information they need to make informed choices. Lieberman also led the fight in the Senate to lower the incidents of medical errors in our health care system. He has also opposed mandatory overtime for nurses, because he understands that in addition to being unfair, exhaustion puts both nurses and patients at risk.
Fighting for a Prescription Drug Benefit under Medicare. Joe Lieberman believes no American senior should have to choose between food, rent, and the prescription drugs needed to live a decent life. He has fought to provide all seniors a prescription drug benefit through the Medicare program, and has staunchly opposed Republican efforts to force seniors into HMOs to get the lifesaving drugs they need.
Protecting the Health of Children. Joe Lieberman has fought to improve the health and well-being of our children. In addition to supporting the establishment of the S-CHIP program, he co-sponsored the Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act of 2001 to allow states to offer S-CHIP and Medicaid to eligible women and children who are legal immigrants. Also, Lieberman has been a leader in protecting children from lead poisoning, authoring bills that track lead contamination and expand lead screening.
Enhancing Preventive Care. Like millions of Americans, Joe Lieberman's lost a loved-one, his father, to cancer. Dedicated to giving more men and women access to the screening and prevention that can save their lives, Senator Lieberman introduced the Colon Cancer Screen for Life Act which would remove barriers to screening at hospitals and clinics and encourage more people to take advantage of early intervention that can protect their health.
Fighting for Mental Health Parity. As a longtime believer that mental health illness is an illness like any other, Joe Lieberman cosponsored a bill to require equal coverage of medical and mental health benefits. Supporting Basic Research. Joe Lieberman knows that America must support basic research today if it is to continue developing the cures to diseases tomorrow. He has successfully fought to increase funding for research into breast cancer, HIV/AIDS, and other ailments afflicting Americans and people around the world.
