MAD ABOUT MIKE: Resemblance is striking, don’t you think?
Best I can tell, this article in The Hill is not a hoax:
Blue Dog Rep. Mike Ross, who made headlines by rejecting a compromise he’d negotiated on a public health insurance option, has suggested to Democratic leaders that the government-run Medicare program be opened to all Americans.
Ross (D-Ark.) has made the suggestion in meetings with House Democratic leaders and brought the idea to the closed-door House Democratic Caucus meeting Thursday.
“I – speaking only on behalf of myself – suggested one possible idea could be that instead of creating an entirely new government bureaucracy to administer a public option, Medicare could be offered as a choice to compete alongside private insurers for those Americans eligible to enter the national health insurance exchange, but at a reimbursement rate much greater than current Medicare rates,” Ross said in a statement to The Hill.
The position is surprising because centrist Democrats such as Ross, chairman of the Blue Dogs’ healthcare task force, have resisted a public insurance option with rates tied to Medicare.
But wait, hold that applause ….
“While I do not support a government-run public option, I do believe there are numerous other alternatives worth review and have presented and discussed many of these ideas in a concerted effort to advance the legislative process,” Ross said in his statement.
But regarding opening Medicare, he added this caveat: “Let me be clear: I do not endorse this idea as it was just one of many ideas we, as legislators, have brought up and discussed in the numerous, ongoing negotiations and discussions we have had on health care reform over the past several months.”
It is coincidental, but perhaps Ross’ catering to liberally inclined Democrats is related to hell being raised among progressives about Blue Dogs. Paul Barton reports from Washington on efforts to shut down fund-raising that helps Dogs like Ross.