Obama to Press Case on Public Option

By GARY FIELDS of The Wall Street Journal Online

WASHINGTON -- Top aides to President Barack Obama said that part of the president's Wednesday address to a joint session of Congress on health-care overhaul is aimed at building support for the so-called public option, but they stopped short of saying it was essential.
Speaking on ABC's "This Week" press secretary Robert Gibbs, said Sunday that Mr. Obama "will talk about the public option and why he believes and continues to believe that it is a valuable component of providing choice and competition that helps individuals and small businesses at the same time provides a check on insurance companies."
Mr. Gibbs, however, wouldn't say that the administration sees a government insurance plan as a deal breaker if Congress doesn't include it in health care legislation. "We're not going to prejudge what the process will be when we sign a bill, which the president expects to do this year," Mr. Gibbs said. "The president strongly believes that we have to have an option like this to provide choice and competition to provide a check on insurance companies."

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