MINNEAPOLIS – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) secretly supports a single-payer health care system, according to Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison.
Earlier this year, Pelosi broke stride with the more progressive wing of her party, shooting down single-payer health care. Pelosi flatly told the The New York Times “no” when asked if single-payer health care should be a central theme for the Democrats going into 2018. However, Ellison says Pelosi feels differently behind closed doors.
At an event in Minnesota last week, Ellison spilled the beans on Pelosi, saying she “actually likes the concept” of a single-payer health care system more than she is willing to publicly admit, according to a video obtained by The Daily Caller.
Ellison voiced his support for single-payer health care, saying he is on a bill called “Medicare for all.”
“I believe in — I’m signed onto H.R. 676 which is a single-payer health care act. They call it Medicare for all,” Ellison said. “Yeah, universal health care. Real single-payer health care. I’m on that. But let me tell you this.”
Ellison paused to ask if anybody was recording before launching into details about Pelosi.
“Is anybody taping me right now? OK, so, you may have heard that Nancy [Pelosi] is not for it, but that’s not really true,” Ellison said. “Nancy has to represent a very diverse caucus. She does not like getting out ahead of the caucus too fast. So she’s trying to get, she’s, you know, you know, she actually likes the concept.”
Ellison claims Pelosi believes a single-payer system is the best way to approach health-care, saying her hesitancy comes from trying to please the more moderate members of her constituency.
“She says it’s the best way to do it. She says it’s the cheapest way to do it, but she’s got to make sure that she brings our Blue Dog friends along,” Ellison added. “And by the way, for any of us progressives who get mad at the Blue Dogs, if we didn’t have them, some of them would be replaced by Republicans.”
Watch the video obtained by The Daily Caller below:
