John Shadegg Briefly Excites Health Care Reform Proponents, For No Reason

Yesterday, during an interview with MSNBC's David Shuster, baby-carrying Senator Representative John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) seemingly shocked the world by coming out in favor of a single-payer health care system.

Big, crazy news, right? Except, I don't know? When you examine Shadegg's remarks more closely, I'm not sure that he knows what "single-payer" means. And what he seems to favor, isn't really news at all.

Let's go to the videotape:

From TPM:

"The reality is, this bill is going to reward for-profit insurance companies that have done a disservice," Shadegg said. "This bill is going to give them exactly what they wanted. The insurance industry, the for-profit insurance industry, wanted an individual mandate and that's what they're getting out of this bill. The for-profit insurance industry did not want a public option because they don't like competition and guess what? They're getting that."

When Shuster accused Republicans of supporting insurers, Shadegg balked.

"No we don't! You guys keep saying that, but I'm not the guy pushing the bill that says we should compel people to buy insurance from the for-profit guys. That's the Democrats," he said.

Then, after some back and forth with Shuster: "I would support single-payer."

"You would support a government-run medical system?" Shuster asked.

"Absolutely," Shadegg said. "I would support forcing American insurance companies to compete. Right now they have a monopoly."

He also said that the best way to pay for those with pre-existing conditions is to "spread their costs among the healthy, among the taxpayers."

Emphasis mine, because what Shadegg is describing is not single-payer. Per Sarabeth at 1115.org:

Now that's a slightly confusing statement there at the end. Under a single-payer system, all healthcare would be provided by the government. If you will, we would all be covered by Medicare. There would be no private insurance companies competing for our business.

Right. What he calls "single-payer" sounds suspiciously public optiony to me! And as it turns out, Shadegg's office later clarified this:

"Congressman Shadegg believes health insurance companies should have to compete for our business as individual consumers," she said. "Forcing them to compete, even through a public option, would be better than an individual mandate which will not work."

So, no single-payer, but this is still big news, right? Sure! At least it was two months ago, when Mike Stark reported it!

SHADEGG: Well, you could better defend a public option than you could defend compelling me to buy a product from the people that have created the problem. America's health insurance industry has wanted this bill and the individual mandate from the get go. That's their idea. Their idea is "look, our product is so lousy, that lots of people don't buy it. So we need the government to force people to buy our product. And stunningly, that's what the Congress appears to be going along with. Why would they do that?

STARK: Congressman, you're making the progressive case here.

SHADEGG: I'm with the progressives on this one! The notion ... I mean, I completely agree with my progressive friends here. The notion of forcing Americans to buy a product they don't want to buy from companies that aren't doing it right right now is goofy.

So, woo! John Shadegg said something he didn't mean, about a health care provision he's already said he kind of supports, but won't vote for, not ever. Great catch, everyone! We'll be chewing over the significance of this for tens of minutes!

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Comments

[meko]

03:49 AM on 03/21/2010

He's got a killer talking point. It is going to work in November.

I think many progressives are upset about the mandates, especially now that the PO is gone. The PO was the only thing that made the mandates poll above 40%. The rate authority made the mandates palatable, but that got dropped early this week.

So now we're left with mandates to purchase a product from a politically connected monopoly. I'm from Chicago. We call this Crony Capitalism. Some wealthy buddy of a politician gets a fat contract to provide public services. The public pays through increased taxes, increased fees, and decreased government services. It's a sweet deal for the contractor and for the politician who got bought off.

If the benefits in the bill came earlier, if there were an alternative to the private insurers, if there were a repeal of the anti-trust exemption, if there were a robust regulator to enforce consumer protects, if, if, if. But none of them happened in this bill, and with insurers getting 30 million forced new customers and the billions in premiums they bring, I don't think they will let any of these ifs come to pass. Political cronies never lose their contracts in Chicago unless the feds come around, and the feds are in on it this time. So we, the public, are toast.

(and I don't think the republicans will repeal the mandates - they'll just campaign and raise money on complaining about them. I'm not that naive.)

[desertflower1]

09:17 PM on 03/20/2010

This idiot is my rep....anyone that knows him and his ridiculous ways, would NEVER have seriously thought that he'd mean that. Seriously. Retire already. And take the rest of the Republican delegation with you!

[noaxe397]

03:42 AM on 03/21/2010

He's mine, too. And to think he was in the running to be GOP minority leader in Congress in 2007.

But his retirement will be small consolation if Quayle's son becomes our next representative.

[SYR]

08:01 PM on 03/20/2010

Great, let's abolish all insurance companies. We have one vote already.

[Darwinia Amazonia]

11:59 AM on 03/20/2010

REID ON POLITICAL DEATH ROW
Reid is scheduled to be hung in Nevada, by the Tea Party patriots, over the "the next few months", for his leading role in the un-constitutional National Health Care Insurance Legislation Swindle, which imposes ruinous taxes on the next generation, and funds the murder of Christian children by the Abortion Industry.

[GranE]

12:37 PM on 03/20/2010

Broken record, broken record, broken record.................Ignorance, ignorance, ignorance.

Adopted any Christian children lately? No, didn't think so.

[Horus45]

01:46 PM on 03/20/2010

Blah blah blah!

[missmanners]

10:20 AM on 03/20/2010

Maybe he got ahold of the wrong talking points memo.

[N8tracks]

09:47 AM on 03/20/2010

Here's a novel thought, he's lying and you print it because you're a GOP facilitator.

[biancardi]

09:15 AM on 03/20/2010

I have the feeling that the majority of republicans are like this guy.
they have NO idea what they are talking about and just throw things out there to see if it sticks.

[noaxe397]

03:44 AM on 03/21/2010

Especially the majority of Republicans in Arizona.

McCain has flipped flopped on more issues than any major figure in our lifetime.

And I've yet to find a conservative, even here in AZ, who can tell me ONE thing Kyl has done for his state.

[SaddieMcCall]

12:30 AM on 03/20/2010

Does the diaper boy have a pony tail standing up on his head?

[nana4g]

10:35 PM on 03/19/2010

He says he would support a Single Payor until Schuster asks him if he really would support a government expansion of Medicare as Single Payor then he says, "Of course, I would support competition for the insurance industry....."

No, he does not know what he is talking about and even without a Public Option this time around, the manner in which insurance companies will be doing business here forward, in the open exchange, if they want customers, they will have to compete, ie, the best plans for the best buck.

He is one of many pathological, actually, Psychopaths that have been discovered over this past year.

[zigzag1]

07:50 PM on 03/19/2010

He needs to attend a Frank Luntz rehabilitation seminar

[BPCentrisAmerican]

06:06 PM on 03/19/2010

Shadegg was spinning so hard he almost turned into a liberal, "oh the humanity".

[jmpurser]

11:52 AM on 03/19/2010

I think most of the people have no idea what any of this means. On top of the confusion of the basic facts the media just repeats the spins of the best funded sides of the argument. There's very little interest in or supply of good reporting on this.

[brt929]

11:16 AM on 03/19/2010

Of course this just makes it more aggravating- imagine a Rethug that actually gets it, and our president has worked so hard to serve up the American public to the for-profit insurance industry.

While I know we need to pass this piece-of- garbage bill, it doesn't make me any less angry, and frankly Obama and corporate his Dems are not going to receive future support from me.

[jwredd]

10:27 AM on 03/20/2010

Mit Romney will be pleased to hear that he can count on your support.

[brt929]

12:44 PM on 03/20/2010

Don't put words in my mouth.

There are plenty of Democrats that are not interested in Government welfare for corporations.

[Horus45]

01:50 PM on 03/20/2010

You're a fool if you believe ANYTHING Shadegg says, or for that matter ANY Republican!

[brt929]

04:48 PM on 03/20/2010

Of course I don't believe him or any Rethug! The last thing he wanted to do was admit that not everything should be for profit. That was a total slip of the tongue.

That doesn't make me any less angry that Obama presented himself as an agent of change, and it turns out that he is a corporate player.

I'm starting to understand why the Naderites throw away their votes by voting for him.

[den1953]

10:07 AM on 03/19/2010

He got so excited he accidently stuck his foot in his mouth!

[cloudjungle]

08:02 AM on 03/19/2010

Didn't he also say at one place that the best way to pay for preexisting conditions is to spread the cost among the healthy. That sounds sort of like a mandate to me which he's against.

[jwredd]

10:34 AM on 03/20/2010

It's one of those instances where conservatives accidentally acknowledge that they are standing at the crossroads of what actually makes sense and what fits into their ultra "principled" ideological box. Even after they're forced to confront their own hypocrisy, they go straight back into the box. At that point you know you're debating a brick wall.