Do this through reconciliation, and massaging Joe Lieberman's huge ego for having the idea in the first place [whether he did or not, he mentioned it last September].

Should be an opt-out, not a buy-in. That way the poor states like Mississippi or Alabama will opt-out, making residents angry enough to opt back in when they see they're being robbed of affordable insurance.

The most important feature that isn't being mentioned is that all health insurance, private or public, must be through nonprofit entities. As soon as they start profiting and paying huge salaries to execs they should be dropped--banned--from providing insurance.

Reconciliation and Liberman ego-massage might get us a good bill. Forget the Republicans. They hate everything--even legislation that reduces costs for everybody--because their corporate sponsors pull their puppet strings in the other direction.