Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) announced today that he would support GOP efforts to filibuster the Democrat’s health care bill drafted behind closed doors by Harry Reid and advisors to President Obama. The Connecticut Senator is opposed to any bill that includes a public-option, insisting that the government backed plan is “just asking for trouble for the taxpayers, for the premium payers and for the national debt. I don’t think we need it now.”

It seems that Reid’s plan of offering the “opt-out” for states is not enough to grab Lieberman. It’s also not enough to snag Olympia Snowe, the lone Republican who supported the bill in its earlier form in the Senate Finance Committee. Snowe said that the inclusion of the public option gives the government backed plan an “unfair advantage” in the marketplace.

“It does give the government a disproportionate advantage in the marketplace. They can set … the prices and certainly negotiate those prices at whatever level,” she told Fox News, adding that she was “surprised and disappointed” by Reid’s decision.

Another Democrat, Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana also raised doubts about the Democrat’s bill saying that the plan may, “substantially increase the deficit.” Bayh and Lieberman are expressing many of the same worries that the GOP has about such a plan with Lieberman saying, “in the end, the taxpayers are going to pay and probably all people will have health insurance are going to see their premiums go up because there’s going to be cost shifting as there has been for Medicare and Medicaid.”

The inclusion of the Public Option in the final version of the Senate bill was forced upon Democrats according to Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin. The Senator said that the liberal left, and their backers in Congress, insisted they would not support a bill that lacked the government managed plan. Senators Burris, Sanders, and Feingold, some of the most left-leaning guys in the chamber, all insisted that they would shoot down any measure that did not include the public option, it’s also a factor the White House and President Obama has been pushing since the 2008 campaign as an important step to achieving the goal of universal coverage that Democrats have sought now for a generation or more.

The abandonment of Lieberman, Snowe and maybe Bayh means that Reid is short of the needed 60 votes on his side of the Capitol. Also shaky are Democrats Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Mark Pryor of Arkansas. Reid and Obama will need 60 votes just to get the debate on this closed and bring it up for final passage.

Speaker Pelosi may not have the votes she needs to pass this in the House either, but with the rules in the House, it will be easier for her to turn the tide in that chamber than it may be for Reid to reach the magic number in the Senate. At this point passage of this plan, written as is, looks difficult, but then again, this is Washington, home of the back room, late night deal, so don’t count it out entirely. What is clear, is that with a successful filibuster threat in the Senate, a quick passage of this package is unlikely and that may give the GOP, and fiscally concerned Democrats, a chance to scuttle this legislation.