President Obama intensified his push for healthcare reform Wednesday with a nationally televised address before a joint session of Congress. Obama urged lawmakers to overcome partisan differences and pass long-awaited changes to the nation’s healthcare system. Obama renewed his dismissal of single-payer healthcare, which he said would constitute too radical an overhaul. Meanwhile, Obama defended proposals for a public health insurance plan, but didn’t insist upon its inclusion in final legislation. Obama also criticized the profit-driven healthcare industry, citing the congressional testimony of former CIGNA executive turned whistleblower Wendell Potter. But despite his criticism, Obama assured the insurance industry he wants to keep it in business.

President Obama: “As one former insurance executive testified before Congress, insurance companies are not only encouraged to find reasons to drop the seriously ill, they are rewarded for it. All of this is in service of meeting what this former executive called 'Wall Street's relentless profit expectations.’ Now, I have no interest in putting insurance companies out of business. They provide a legitimate service and employ a lot of our friends and neighbors. I just want to hold them accountable.”