Obama to give healthcare speech next week

WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama will address a joint session of Congress on healthcare reform during prime time Sept. 9, a senior official said Wednesday.

Obama plans to offer more specifics about what he wants to see in a healthcare bill, aides told Politico.

Presidential aides said Obama doesn't plan to make a public health insurance option a make-or-break issue when he spells out his specifics.

"We have been saying all along that the most important part of this debate is not the public option, but rather ensuring choice and competition," an aide told the Washington publication. "There are lots of different ways to get there."

While Obama has offered a broad outline of what he wants in any healthcare legislation, he left the task of hashing out details to Congress.

"We're entering a new season," senior White House adviser David Axelrod said on CNN. "It's time to synthesize and harmonize these strands and get this done."

Obama's goal is to create "the best possible situation for consumers" by fostering competition and choice, Axelrod said.

"We want to bring a measure of security to people who have health insurance today," he said. "We want to help those who don't have coverage today, because they can't afford it, get insurance they can afford. And we want to do it in a way that reduces the overall cost of the system as a whole."