Rep. Barney Frank said healthcare reform legislation that includes a public insurance option is the first step toward a single payer system providing all Americans with government health insurance.

"I think if we get a good public option it could lead to single payer, and that's the best way to reach single payer," the Massachusetts Democrat said in remarks reported by The Hill newspaper.

Frank favors a single payer system but supports the less comprehensive public insurance option in the current House bill.

"The best way we're going to get single payer, the only way," he said, "is to have a public option to demonstrate its strength and its power."