Top Blue Dog Boasts: "We Held Bill Hostage," Killed Single Payer (VIDEO)

Rep. Mike Ross on Thursday boasted about how his Blue Dog coalition "held the [health care] bill hostage in committee for 10 days" and prevented a single player plan.

The Arkansas Democrat said that the conservative group's opposition ensured "that we don't end up with some type of single payer system," Firedoglake reported.

We ensured that if there is a government option, it will be just that -- an option -- and it won't be mandated on anybody. If it had been based on Medicare rates, I can assure you that it would have eventually ended up resulting in a single payer-type system, because Medicare has really good rates, because they're negotiating for every senior in America. Private insurance companies could not have competed with that. And so we would have at the end of the day ended up with single payer. Now we've leveled the playing field, if there is a government option they'll have to go out again and negotiate with providers just like private insurance companies do. That was important to me to insure that we don't end up with some type of single payer system.

The bill that House Democrats originally proposed included a fairly robust public option that would have structured payments for doctors and health care providers at a rate modified from the one used by Medicare.

However, after weeks of negotiations with conservative Democrats, a compromise bill emerged which allows doctors to negotiate their payment rates under the public option.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Ross expressed satisfaction with the weakened public option he helped engineer.

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Comments

[wonketteRAWKS]

09:03 PM on 08/09/2009

What's the point of the headline?

Sounds like he saying that single payer should be an option, not a mandate.

[AWJ]

06:56 PM on 08/09/2009

I and anyone that favors a single-payer have no qualms at all about private insurance not competing. Their business model is that EVERY American is going to need health care at some point and they're gonna make some money off every one of 'em. Quite the racket! Permanent cash cow! At birth, mid-life and near-death they gotcha covered. I'd be kickin' and screamin' too if someone wanted to take that away. It is an obscene amount of money we're talking about here.
Just a quick thought on the fascists disrupting town hall meetings. They cannot let the message of change get out or they're golden goose is cooked. The age-old adage is "If you cant' make sense... make NOISE!"

[FrozenNorthObserver]

06:16 PM on 08/09/2009

Hey come on guys share the credit, you know you could have never without Ob a ma sending Rahm in to help you.

[Bude]

06:09 PM on 08/09/2009

Contact Mikey

http://ross.house.gov/?sectionid=77§iontree=76,77

Use Zip Code: 71857-3608

[Bude]

05:59 PM on 08/09/2009

What's he want , a medal or a chest to pin it on?

[kid5rivers2]

05:38 PM on 08/09/2009

I'd've remained most quiet, were I he.

[ROBOT8]

05:02 PM on 08/09/2009

SO PROUD OF THEIR CORPORATE PERKS AND THE JOBS AWAITING THM AT THE END OF THEIR TERMS.THEY'LL DO ANYTHING FOR THE LOBBYISTS WHO OFFER THAM JOBS....EVEN LET OTHERS DIE

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, THE TRUTH IS THE GREATEST ENEMY OF THE STATE." -- Joseph Goebbels, German Minister of Propaganda, 1933-1945

[Bude]

06:00 PM on 08/09/2009

So proud of the free health care for life, awaiting him at the end of his term

[Scottyann]

09:40 AM on 08/21/2009

There was one truth shining through Mike Ross's statement - he was "protecting small businesses". But, correct me if I'm wrong, small businesses would have been automatically protected in a single payor system of healthcare. Ross was elected to protect all Americans, not just small and BIG business. I would say he is failing in his job, and hope he will be voted out of office in 2010 if he does not begin to look at the big picture, and do the job his constituents asked him to do - protect them, and do the right thing for all, not just the folks with the big campaign contributions.

PROPAGANDA - PROPAGANDA - PROPAGANDA - THIS IS A REPEAT OF 1993. We need to nip this bull in the bud.

[David Deacon]

04:26 PM on 08/09/2009

In the spirit of honesty and transparency I think they should give a full accounting of their donations. Let's see who is buying their votes.

[bobo5]

04:23 PM on 08/09/2009

How many are uninsured in Arkansas?

I really hope states will start having regular Single Payer ballot initiatives to drain the money from the insurance lobby and eventually win.

[17ladyslippers]

03:40 PM on 08/09/2009

There is a phenomenal video on YouTube of Senator Durbin on health insurance. It tells why Americans need Universal Health coverage.

It is EXCELLENT! It needs to go viral. Please watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE9t4nmtAos&feature=player_embedded

[AndyB62]

03:39 PM on 08/09/2009

Term limits!!!!!

[NoSillyName]

03:25 PM on 08/09/2009

What a jack@ss.

[shockmagog]

01:54 PM on 08/09/2009

If this representative's ideology is soundly (and rightly) repudiated, and the damage he's caused to health care reform is corrected in time for passage, then--and only then--will he have time to apologize and promise to make amends in time for the next election.

Otherwise, it is certain he will be voted out of office along with his comrades.

[17ladyslippers]

04:00 PM on 08/09/2009

There is a phenomenal video on YouTube of Durbin on health insurance. It tells why Americans need Universal Health coverage.

It is EXCELLENT! It needs to go viral. Please watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE9t4nmtAos&feature=player_embedded

[vippy]

12:30 PM on 08/09/2009

Well, he is boasting himself right out of office. Please, do not re-elect incumbents. Party does not matter at this point. Then after 4 years, let us get a new crop!

[Chaimirija]

12:15 PM on 08/09/2009

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20090809/D99VD2N01.html

"One major catch is that the consumer protections would not be available immediately. They are timed to take effect alongside government subsidies to help people buy coverage. In the House Democratic legislation, the coverage expansion would come in 2013 - after the next presidential elections. Part of the reason for the delay is to make the costs of the bill appear more manageable. "