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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) fired back Thursday at what appears to be a major push by insurance companies to sway the health care reform debate.

“If anyone had any doubts about the need for such an option, you only need to look at the behavior of the health insurance industry this week,” Pelosi said during a press conference, referencing a report released by America’s Health Insurance Plans claiming health care costs would rise under the Senate Finance Committee’s bill.

Pelosi described the report as “totally discredited.”

The Speaker went on to explain that while the mandate requiring individuals to purchase insurance is becoming more widely discussed, support for the public option is growing in response.

“If you’re going to mandate that people must buy insurance, why would you sell them to the lions den of the insurance industry without some leverage with a public option?”

“We may call it something else by Tuesday,” Pelosi added. ‘It might have a better name.”