Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) says he’s a big fan of single payer national health insurance.

He’s a long time co-sponsor of HR 676 — the single payer bill in the House.

But Frank says that it’s “suicidal” to get behind HR 676 and try to make it law.

Why?

“Because we don’t have the votes for it,” Frank told Single Payer Action today.

“If we get a good public option it could lead to single payer,” Frank said. “The best way to get single payer — the only way — is to have a public option and demonstrate the strength of its power.”

But right now, there is no strong public option.

It’s weak and getting weaker.

“We don’t know what the plan is,” Frank says.

We don’t?

Didn’t the relevant House committees just approve watered down public option bills?

“I’m for a strong public option,” Frank says. “But your strategy is suicidal for trying to get single payer. Your strategy is apparently to do nothing at all.”

“That will — I am afraid — leave some people who could use some help unhelped and be less likely to lead to single payer.”

Who said our strategy was to do nothing at all?

Our strategy is to get behind single payer and push it through.

The majority of Americans support it.

The majority of doctors support it.

The majority of nurses support it.

You say you support it.

But then you say it’s suicidal to get behind it and support it.

We support front door single payer.

“We don’t have the votes for it,” Frank says.

Then you don’t have the votes for back door single payer.

Frank and the Democrats are pulling the wool over the eyes of the American people.

They say they support single payer only to placate their liberal base.

They then take money by the boatload from the insurance industry — Frank has raked in more than $488,000 from the insurance industry in his career.

And then they say single payer is off the table — because we don’t have the votes.

Well, one reason you don’t have the votes is because you don’t fight for it.

Put single payer back on the table.

Then fight for it.