Evan McMorris-Santaro, over at TPM, points out that Vice Presidential candidate Joe Lieberman said in 2000 that he favored a medicare buy-in for 55- to 64-years-old. From the Bangor Daily News in 2000:
In an interview after the town meeting, Lieberman said that health care changes can only come incrementally, which is why the Democratic ticket hasn’t proposed an overhaul of the system. . . .
He said during the interview that the fastest growing group of uninsured are those 55 to 65. For that reason, the ticket proposes an expansion of Medicare to allow those and older to buy into the public program. There would still be a buy-in price but it would be less than buying private insurance, he said.