McCain: Obama must drop health care public option

WASHINGTON — Sen. John McCain says President Barack Obama will have to drop proposals for a government-run health insurance option if he hopes to reach congressional agreement on health-care reform.

McCain says many Americans are losing confidence in Obama partly because of concerns about the so-called public option. The Arizona Republican proposed that Obama meet with members of both parties in Congress to find areas of agreement, abandon the public option, and then make clear exactly what he wants in the legislation.

McCain said that right now Obama is simply leaving it to Congress to decide the details and that isn't enough. He maintains that Republicans are willing to sit down with the president and talk about various reforms.

McCain spoke in an interview for broadcast Sunday on ABC's "This Week."