Burris: '99.9 percent' against health bill without public option

Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.), who Wednesday night issued a statement opposing any healthcare reform bill without a public-option plan, told The Hill Thursday morning his position is "99.9 percent" firm, although he offered a faint hope he could support such a bill.

Burris is believed to be the first Senate Democrat to oppose any healthcare bill without the so-called public option component. The junior senator from Illinois said he believed in advocates' arguments that such an option would improve private insurance through more competition.

"There's an opportunity to have competition and keep rates lower," Burris said. "We don't have any competition in some of these states.

He added: "I'm pretty set. If something might come up that could convince me that choice could be expanded, I would listen. But now, I'm 99.9 percent. I mean, you never say never. But from what I've gotten back from my constituents across Illinois, and from what I've seen that's come into my office, and from what I've seen from moveon.org, people want to have a choice. So I'm going to stick to it as best I can, and probably even withstand some pressure from sources."