The statement by Obama, released by the White House, came as Congress considers whether to include a public insurance option as it crafts a broad overhaul of U.S. healthcare.
The public option, supported by many Democrats, has drawn sharp opposition from Republicans who say it would hurt insurance companies and lead to a government takeover of the system, displacing the traditional employer-based insurance model.
Obama has consistently included a public insurance plan in his goals for healthcare reform. But White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was quoted in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday as saying one option would be using the public plan only if the marketplace failed to provide enough competition.
He pointed to the trigger mechanism included by congressional Republicans in the prescription-drug benefit plan for Medicare in 2003, which has never been used because private competition has been determined to be sufficient.
Obama's statement, however, reiterated his support for the public option.
"I am pleased by the progress we're making on healthcare reform and still believe, as I've said before, that one of the best ways to bring down costs, provide more choices, and assure quality is a public option that will force the insurance companies to compete and keep them honest," he said.
"I look forward to a final product that achieves these very important goals."
Obama's top legislative priority has made unsteady progress in Congress as lawmakers struggle to meld five separate bills into versions that can pass the Senate and House of Representatives by the August 8 start of a month-long recess.
With a price tag estimated at $1 trillion or more, Democratic lawmakers are trying to trim costs to make the plan more palatable and potentially win some bipartisan support.
Three major hospital associations have offered to contribute about $155 billion over 10 years to help pay for the healthcare overhaul, The Washington Post reported on Monday, citing industry sources.
Two hospital sources told the newspaper that about $100 billion would be saved through lower-than-expected Medicare and Medicaid payments to hospitals. About $40 billion would be saved by slowly reducing the subsidies paid to hospitals to care for the uninsured.
Shares of hospital companies rose on Tuesday. Shares of Comm unity Health Systems Inc (CYH.N) rose 5.3 percent, Tenet Healthcare (THC.N) climbed 6.1 percent, while LifePoint Hospitals LPNT .O was up 3.4 percent.
Two weeks ago, the pharmaceutical industry offered some $80 billion in prescription discounts over the next decade to help defray the cost of healthcare reform proposals.
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