A national nursing group says a reform measure offered by two health insurance groups to cover all Americans despite pre-existing conditions is essentially “blackmail,” since it comes with strings attached.

The 85,000-member California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee is condemning reform measures offered by America’s Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, which the pair made recently in a letter to key congressmen working on health reform in the U.S.

In the letter, the CEOs of both organizations said that in return for an “effective, enforceable requirement” that all Americans are mandated to have coverage, they believe they could guarantee coverage “with no pre-existing condition exclusions and phase out the practice of varying premiums based on health status in the individual market.”

The pair – Karen Ignagni of AHIP and Scott Serota of Blue Cross Blue Shield – also pitched a number of tax reforms for low- and middle-income families and those who cannot access coverage through their employers.

The nursing group said the offer to cover all Americans comes only with the stipulation that Congress reject a proposal to include a public plan alternative for those not wanting private insurance.

“That’s not a sign of flexibility at all, it’s blackmail,” said Geri Jenkins, RN, co-president of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, in a statement. “They are only willing to scale back on their immoral denial of coverage for people who are sick, even those who have had minor illnesses, if they are given billions of dollars in payments from private individuals and government subsidies.”

The group said the AHIP/Blue Cross Blue Shield proposal “amply demonstrates what is so fundamentally wrong with our insurance-based system. Decisions on whether patients can receive healthcare coverage are not based on patient need, but on how much profit the private insurers can make.”

Rather than the insurers’ offer, the nurses are endorsing a national plan by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) instead.

“Only one reform will achieve that goal and end our national healthcare emergency, a single-payer system, such as expanding and improving Medicare to cover everyone,” said Jenkins.