Since extending a series of health care listening sessions to Mainers on an invitation-only basis earlier this summer, Congressman Mike Michaud has been under mounting pressure to support a public option for health insurance that, theoretically, would co-exist alongside plans offered by private insurers.

Now Michaud is hearing from some of his former co-workers at the northern Maine paper mill where he once worked. Pat Carleton, a Skowhegan paper worker, says they want Michaud to support the House Affordable Health Care for America Act.

"The president of his former local spoke at the recent Maine Labor Council meeting and was very passionate about trying to gain Mike's support on this bill. He really thinks Mike should take a stand on this bill," Carleton says.

But Michaud has not yet declared how he will vote on HR 3962, a bill that differs in several ways from a plan advanced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The House bill includes a strong public option to create more competition among health insurers, while the Senate proposal provides states with the opportunity to opt out of the public option.

The House bill is also financed differently than the Senate health care model and imposes a heavier burden on the richest one percent of Americans. It also asks large employers to shoulder more of the responsibility for their employees health coverage.

"The congressman strongly health care reform," says Michaud's spokesman Ed Gilman. "The bill -- more specifically the manager's amendment -- was just issued the other day. They're both quite long -- the bill is almost 2,000 pages, and the manager's amendment is quite long as well -- so the congressman is continuing to review the bill to make sure that it is a good one for the state of Maine."

Gilman says that while Michaud supports the concept of a public option, he needs to know exactly what the implications of such a policy would be for Mainers. "Too many people, as he's heard throughout his travels in Maine, have been affected by health care in negative ways, whether it's having insurance dropped or whether being denied for preexisting conditions," he says. "So we need to act, but I think the congressman is continuing to review the bill in making sure that all of his concerns are addressed."

"We're very hopeful that he will find a way to get to a 'yes' vote on this because there are such overwhelming benefits to his district," says Marianne Von Nordeck of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. She says Michaud should not be influenced by warnings from groups such as Americans for Limited Government. The Fairfax-Virginia-based organization says in a statement that a public option amounts to a takeover the country's health insurance industry and that Michaud would be placing his job in jeopardy by supporting it.

Von Nordeck disagrees. "I think that's another example of the scare tactics we've seen which are simply not based in fact. It is stated over and over and over again, and it is an absolute fact, that if you like the insurance you have, or if you don't even like it but don't want to participate in the public option, you get to keep your plan, you get to keep your doctor," she says.

White House Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest, who contacted MPBN offering comment on the upcoming vote, says the House Affordable Health Care for America Act will actually strengthen the existing Medicare health care system. "And that's an important consideration, not just for patients, the American public, but also a critically important consideration for small businesses, who are struggling with higher health care costs, and frankly for the government," Earnest says. "If we're going to address our federal deficits in a serious way, that is going to include significant health insurance reform. That's all included in this bill and it's why President Obama supports it so forcefully.

Supporters of HR 3962 say a vote on the bill could be held as soon as Saturday.