Give us health care freedom!

As your constituent, I urge you to stand up for Americans like me and deliver health reform that offers me decent insurance coverage that I can afford, a choice of doctors who provide quality care, and the security of knowing that I can't be denied coverage if I lose or change jobs, move or get sick.

I support the public plan option to help get us this new kind of health care market, with real competition that will bring costs down, improve quality and keep both private and public insurance entities honest.

I pay more today for health care because doctors and hospitals must cover the costs of the 46 million people without insurance. People without insurance usually delay getting early treatment for an illness or put off preventive care, and as a result, they get sicker and are harder to treat, and we all end up paying more.

This is a terrible cycle we have to break, which is why we need meaningful reform that gets everyone covered, with financial help on a sliding-fee basis for those who can't afford health insurance.

But the answer isn't leaving our coverage solely to the giant insurance companies -- that will do nothing to bring down spiraling health costs. Rather, it will just pad corporate profits and put more insurance company middle-men between me and my doctor. Let's face it, private insurance companies have controlled our health coverage for decades, and costs have spiraled out of control, putting decent health insurance out of reach for millions of hard-working Americans.

I urge you to give me and my family a meaningful health reform solution: In addition to the choice of employer-based coverage and private insurance industry offerings, Americans need the choice of a public insurance option that will help drive costs down through competition, and spur innovation and quality.

While you debate how health reform should be shaped, I urge you to make sure a final proposal includes health coverage that is:

*Affordable now: Reform must lower costs, and the insurance industry hasn't done it when left to their own devices. We need a strong public health insurance option to compete with industry to lower rates and keep them honest, and we need it to start from day one.

*Available everywhere: A public health insurance option available throughout the country to compete with the insurance companies who often control our local market by deciding what we pay and what we get.

*Held accountable: Both private companies and the public entity offering insurance must play by the same tough rules with penalties for waste and abuse, with no favorites.

I can't wait any longer for affordable, decent health coverage. I urge you to keep a public plan option as part of a health-care reform bill so I, and millions of other Americans, can finally have some peace of mind when it comes to our health care. To reach a true middle ground on health reform, we can't have a system that is entirely run by the insurance industry or Washington.

Sincerely,