CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller said Tuesday he would not support a Senate Finance Committee health-care reform bill unless it is amended to add a "public option."

The West Virginia Democrat is the second-ranking majority member on the committee, and has long been an advocate for reform of the American health-care system.

In a conference call with media, Rockefeller said he would seek to amend the bill in committee to add the public option, which would create a government health-insurance plan similar to Medicare for people whose employers do not provide benefits.

Rockefeller announced his plans during a call in which he was joined by Roger Hickey, co-director of the progressive Campaign for America's Future, and Jacob Hacker, a Yale University professor who has written extensively on health-care reform and first proposed the public option idea nearly a decade ago.

The trio spoke out in favor of public option language one day before Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., is expected to release his version of a health-care bill, crafted by a bipartisan group of committee members.

"This is a crucial moment," Hickey said. "This is a turning point in the debate."

Hacker said that, without the public option, the committee bill "falls far short" of what is needed to fix the nation's health-care system.

"The absence of a public health insurance option is not some sort of small issue," Hacker said. "The public option is central to providing affordable, quality care."

In his speech to Congress last week, President Obama touted the public option as "a way to keep insurance companies honest."

"By avoiding some of the overhead that gets eaten up at private companies by profits and excessive administrative costs and executive salaries, it could also provide a good deal for consumers, and would also keep pressure on private insurers to keep their policies affordable and treat their customers better," Obama said.

Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.