Obama: 'We've got to change status quo'

Any healthcare reform bill must have choice, competition and reduced costs for consumers, U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday in a call-in radio program.

"That's the end we're seeking," Obama said on conservative talk show host Michael Smerconish's syndicated show.

"We can have a debate" about different components of reforming the healthcare system, "but we've got to change the status quo," he said.

"I would love for the private marketplace to be handling this without any government intervention, but that's not going to happen," Obama said.

Asked by a listener to bullet-point what any healthcare bill must contain before he would sign it, Obama said it must be revenue-neutral, reduce healthcare inflation and include a health insurance exchange program that provides healthcare consumers with the insurance that meets their needs and is affordable. To help spur competition and affordability, Obama has said the exchange should include a government-paid public health insurance option.

The measure must have insurance reforms to eliminate denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions and caps on payments, as well as forbid insurance companies from dropping people because they're sick or older, he said.

Obama said he'd welcome more Republican involvement in the development and hoped-for passage of healthcare reform.

Later Thursday, in a meeting at the Democratic National Committee, Obama sought to appeal to liberals who insist on a government-run health insurance option.

"If we have a public option in there, that can help keep insurers honest, it can provide a benchmark for what an affordable basic plan should look like," he said.

But he added the public health option -- on which the White House has sent conflicting signals during the past week -- "is just one component of a broader plan."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said reform would have no chance without the public option, CNN reported.

"There is no way I can pass a bill in the House of Representatives without a public option," she said in San Francisco.