U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership have reached a compromise with conservative Blue Dog democrats over health care that would "significantly weaken the public option favored by liberals by delinking reimbursement rates to Medicare," according to Politico.com and CNN.

Translation: Democrats are once again failing to govern and may put forth a health care reform bill that does not come close to meeting the president's stated goal of universal health care.

Progressive Democrats in the House should vote against this compromise.  The president should promise to veto it.

As Senator Kennedy recently wrote in Newsweek, a public option is key to making health care reform work:

...we have to cut the costs of health care. For families who've seen health-insurance premiums more than double—from an average of less than $6,000 a year to nearly $13,000 since 1999—one of the most controversial features of reform is one of the most vital. It's been called the "public plan." Despite what its detractors allege, it's not "socialism." It could take a number of different forms. Our bill favors a "community health-insurance option." In short, this means that the federal government would negotiate rates—in keeping with local economic conditions—for a plan that would be offered alongside private insurance options. This will foster competition in pricing and services. It will be a safety net, giving Americans a place to go when they can't find or afford private insurance, and it's critical to holding costs down for everyone.

Adopting a plan called "health care reform" that doesn't actually meet the goal of insuring all Americans would be the worst kind of scam.

Religious leaders from across American recently said that health care reform needed to be an "urgent priority so that all of our neighbors, especially the people living in poverty, children, and the aged, can be assured of the fullness of life that is central to the holy vision of a beloved and peaceable community."

Unless we act now health care reform will fail.  Contact your House and Senate members today and tell them you want a public option before the Blue Dogs and Republicans kill health care reform.