Few issues are more pressing to President Obama right now than health care reform. As the New York Times recently reported, Obama has decided to “exert greater control over the health care debate,” with an “intense push for legislation” that includes “speeches, town-hall-style meetings and much deeper engagement with lawmakers.” Yesterday’s speech to the American Medical Association (AMA) was a major part of this effort, since the group recently registered its opposition to the creation of a public insurance plan — a key plank of Obama’s health reform efforts. “The public option is not your enemy, it is your friend,” Obama told the nearly 500 attendees at the address. Indeed, as The Wonk Room’s Igor Volsky has explained, the public option remains the best way to “restore competition into the consolidated health insurance market, lower health care premiums, lead the way in innovation, and improve health quality.” (The Wonk Room has put together a document debunking the top myths about the public option here, and the Center for American Progress Action Fund has a new analysis showing how few health insurance choices most Americans currently have.)

From: thinkprogress.org