President Obama indicated this week that he wants a health care bill that provides quality, affordability, and accessibility--and that the key to achieving all three of those goals is the public health insurance option. In a letter sent to Sen. Max Baucus (D-MO) and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), President Obama declared:

I strongly believe that Americans should have the choice of a public health insurance option operating alongside private plans. This will give them a better range of choices, make the health care market more competitive, and keep insurance companies honest.

Let's be clear - this is big news for health care reform. It means that the President himself thinks no legislation is complete without first providing Americans the option of a public health insurance plan.

The public health insurance option is important because it does three things:

• Lowers costs for individuals and families by competing side-by-side with private insurance plans
  
• Sets high standards for quality and accessibility that other plans will strive to meet
  
• Gives Americans more choice in their coverage by offering an affordable alternative to over-priced plans

"This year, we must do more than discuss. We must act."
President Obama stresses the urgency of reform in his letter to Baucus and Kennedy, calling health care reform a "necessity we cannot defer:"

We simply cannot afford to postpone health care reform any longer. This recognition has led an unprecedented coalition to emerge on behalf of reform -- hospitals, physicians, and health insurers, labor and business, Democrats and Republicans. These groups, adversaries in past efforts, are now standing as partners on the same side of this debate.

Americans cannot wait for the health care crisis to get worse before they see real change. And after 80 years, we finally have the solution to this health care crisis in our sights. Getting there is going to require an all-out sprint to the finish line that starts right now, and thanks to the support of the administration and remarks by the President this week, we've got the wind at our backs.

SEIU's Change that Works campaign is joining with Organizing for America and thousands of volunteers in hosting health care organizing kickoffs in their communities. Join us in beginning the last big push to fix America's broken health care system starting this Saturday.

Will you take part on June 6th? Click here to get involved: http://action.seiu.org/page/s/june6

(Read the President's letter to Sen. Kennedy and Sen. Baucus here)