Mike Ross and a few other conservative Democrats in the House are threatening health reform:

Arkansas Rep. Mike Ross, who has been negotiating the legislation on behalf of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition, went a step further, telling reporters Wednesday that he has enough votes at this point to defeat the bill when it comes up for a vote in the Energy and Commerce Committee unless drastic changes are made.

Why the drastic threats? What exactly do they want?

It all comes down to the rates the public health insurance option would pay providers.

In a letter about 40 Blue Dogs (far short of the entire caucus) sent to House leadership, they complained that the rates the public health insurance option pays are going to be too low. The complaint by this collection of Blue Dogs is interesting because it flies in the face of the stated mission of the Blue Dog caucus: fiscal responsibility.

In their complaint, the singers state, "A strong rural package is critical to our support." Health Care for America Now agreed - a strong rural package that makes health care truly affordable to people in rural areas is what we need. That's not quite what these Members of Congress are asking for, though.

If the rates paid by the public health insurance option are raised, that means the premiums charged by the public option in people's local communities have to be raised, too. Those folks on the public option, therefore, would have to pay more. Blue Dog districts, especially, say, Mike Ross's district, have high rates of uninsurance, which means there are a lot of people in those districts who will likely join the public health insurance option. Mike Ross is essentially proposing that he charge his constituents more for health care.

If people pay more in premiums for the public health insurance option, those that qualify for subsidies to make their premiums affordable will need higher subsidies from the government. So Ross's proposal also will end up adding to the price tag of health reform, the antithesis of fiscal responsibility.

It's interesting that some of the conservative Democrats have decided to make a stand on this issue, because it seems counter-intuitive. The public health insurance option has been shown to be a cost saver, and it must be affordable to rural families if health reform is to work for every American. Why Ross wants to make it more expensive is beyond me.