I almost feel sorry for Rep. Dennis Moore. The Kansas Democrat always seems so torn. He only wants to do the right thing. But deciding what to do is <em>so hard.</em></p><p> On health care, no surprise: He&rsquo;s landing on the Democratic side, supporting legislation making its way through House committees. But he&rsquo;s packaging his support with a show of agonizing discomfort and sincere concern, implying that if it were up to him he would handle things more reasonably. </p><p>This sort of performance is one reason Moore has held on to his House seat in a predominantly Republican district. Give him credit. He has the routine down pat. He dropped in on The Star&rsquo;s Editorial Board last week, and what we saw was vintage Moore. </p><p>One of the first questions was whether he favored the government-backed &ldquo;public option,&rdquo; which would provide health care to &ldquo;compete&rdquo; with private insurers (and drive them out of business). The answer: Sort of &hellip; No: Maybe.</p><p> In a meeting of the Blue Dog Democrats, the moderate Dems who supposedly worry about the budget deficit, Moore was one of only a few to vote in favor of the public option. But that wasn&rsquo;t his final position. He was just trying to make sure it wasn&rsquo;t voted down &ldquo;out of the starting gate.&rdquo;</p><p>Dennis: Do you support the public option or not?</p><p>He said he&rsquo;s not sure what his final position will be. But a Moore staffer distributed a handout saying a public option was one of his goals.</p><p>He produced another handout proclaiming that the national debt had reached $11.6 trillion. This is a typical Blue Dog gesture. Moore wants to be seen as concerned about the national debt. But how does one reconcile that concern with a health-care plan the Congressional Budget Office has said will cost more than $1 trillion? How would we ever pay for it?</p><p>Moore didn&rsquo;t know.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not trying to dodge the question,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but that is frankly one of the things we need to consider.&rdquo;</p><p>I&rsquo;ll say.</p><p>He suggested the president form a commission to mull the issue.</p><p>What about financing health care with higher taxes on the wealthy, as proposed in the House bill?</p><p>During a recession, you don&rsquo;t want to raise taxes, he said. But if something is to be done about health care, raising taxes is &ldquo;one of the things we should look at.&rdquo; But he didn&rsquo;t like the idea. He hoped Congress could find some other way to do it.</p><p>He offered no suggestions.</p><p>Democrats have been caught flat-footed by the public reaction to their health care plans. That&rsquo;s hardly surprising. Many people simply don&rsquo;t trust Congress and the White House. </p><p> This debate began as an attempt to deliver health care to the uninsured. But if the House bill passes, virtually everyone will be affected. President Barack Obama has said, &ldquo;If you like your health care plan, you&rsquo;ll be able to keep your health care plan, period.&rdquo;</p><p>Not necessarily. There&rsquo;s no guarantee your health plan would exist. Under the House legislation, the federal government will decide whether your coverage is &ldquo;acceptable.&rdquo; The government will determine what benefits are &ldquo;essential&rdquo; &mdash; a one-size-fits-all federal version of the current mix of cost-boosting state mandates. Insurers will have to bring plans into line within five years. </p><p>That means some plans will materially change or cease to exist. The CBO estimates that 3 million people will be dumped from employer-provided health insurance. The Lewin Group offers a much larger estimate: 88 million.</p><p>The point is, no one knows what will happen when the bureaucracy begins issuing decrees saying which coverage is &ldquo;acceptable&rdquo; and which isn&rsquo;t.</p><p>That&rsquo;s one reason the poll numbers on health care have flipped. In June, 50 percent backed the legislation in Congress and 45 percent were opposed. In a Rasmussen poll last week, 53 percent were opposed and support had dropped to 42 percent.</p><p> It will be fascinating to see how Dennis Moore tap dances his way out of this one.