Obama said toward the end of the conference the “thinking is” that the availability of a new government plan to compete with private insurers “gives consumers more choices.”

“I recognize the fear that if the public option is run through Washington, and the incentives are to try and tamp down costs, that private insurance plans might feel overwhelmed,” he said. “This is a serious concern and we will make sure it’s addressed.”

I am sure "we" will.   By letting private insurance plans run the public option ala Medicaid managed care complete with the sort of comparative effectiveness enforced reimbursement levels and formularies Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler warned about..

"Imperative" is a code word for coercion.