A coalition of 36 big US companies including Pacific Gas and Electric, General Mills, PepsiCo, Safeway, Bumble Bee Foods, and health industry giants Aetna, Cigna, Eli Lilly and Blue Shield of California, have joined together to lobby congress for market-based universal health care.

The coalition has laid out some core principles that health care reform should follow:

Health insurance will be mandatory
Low income citizens are to be subsidized
Health insurance will cover pre-existing medical conditions
Plans will include coverage for preventive care and incentives for healthier lifestyles
The self-insured will get tax relief
Medical treatment costs will be transparent.

What's new here is that big business traditionally oppose health care reform at the national level.