WASHINGTON -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A key Senate negotiator said Sunday that President Obama should drop his push for a government-funded public health insurance option because the Senate will never pass it . President Obama at a town hall meeting earlier this week pushing his health care reform plan . Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota said it was futile to continue to `` chase that rabbit '' due to the lack of 60 Senate votes needed to overcome a filibuster . `` The fact of the matter is there are not the votes in the United States Senate for a public option . There never have been , '' Conrad said on `` Fox News Sunday . '' His comment signaled a shift in the health care debate , with Obama and senior advisers softening their support for a public option by saying final form of the legislation is less important than the principle of affordable coverage available to all . At a town hall meeting Saturday in Colorado , Obama said the public option is just one of many issues critical to successfully overhauling the ailing health care system . `` All I 'm saying is ... that the public option , whether we have it or we do n't have it , is not the entirety of health care reform . This is just one sliver of it , '' the president said . Asked Sunday if Obama would accept a bill lacking a public option , White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the president insists on more competition in the health insurance marketplace to offer consumers better choices . `` The bottom line ... is : Do individuals looking for health insurance in the private market have choice and competition ? '' Gibbs said on the CBS program `` Face the Nation . '' `` If we have that , the president will be satisfied . '' Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius echoed Gibbs , telling CNN 's `` State of the Union '' on Sunday that a final health care bill will include competitive choices for consumers in one form or another . `` There will be a competitor to private insurers , '' she said . `` You do n't turn over the whole new marketplace to private insurance companies and trust them to do the right thing . We need some choices and we need some competition . '' Opponents of overhauling the health care system argue the Democratic proposals under consideration by Congress go too far and will lead to a government takeover of the health care system . `` We have the best health care system in the world , '' Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama told `` Fox News Sunday . '' `` We need to expand it . We do not need to destroy it . '' At issue is how to provide coverage for an estimated 46 million uninsured people while reversing a climb in health care costs . Democratic proposals passed so far by House and Senate committees include a public insurance option , mandates for people to be insured and employers to provide coverage , and an end to insurance companies refusing to cover pre-existing conditions . Most Republicans oppose the public option and requirements for employers to provide coverage . They also call for limits on medical malpractice lawsuits -- something Democrats generally do n't favor . However , the two parties generally agree on a number of provisions contained in the Democratic bills , including increased efficiency in Medicare and Medicaid and focusing on preventive health programs . Conrad is one of six Senate Finance Committee members -- three Democrats and three Republicans -- who are negotiating a compromise health care bill that would be the only bipartisan proposal so far . Instead of a public option , the negotiators are considering a plan proposed by Conrad to create nonprofit health insurance cooperatives that could negotiate coverage as a collective for their members . Conrad said such cooperatives would provide the competition sought by Obama and Democratic leaders to force private insurers to hold down costs and improve practices . The government would put up initial funding to provide required reserves but would have no other role , he said . `` It 's not a public plan at all in terms of government running it , '' Conrad said . Shelby called the cooperative idea a `` step in the right direction '' and `` a far cry '' from other proposals , adding that Obama and Democratic leaders have `` read the tea leaves '' from town hall meetings around the country . However , Democratic Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas told CNN it would be `` very , very difficult '' to support a bill that lacked a public health insurance option . `` Without the public option , we 'll have the same number of people uninsured , '' Johnson said in a `` State of the Union '' interview . `` If the insurance companies wanted to insure these people now , they 'd be insured . '' She added that `` an option that would give the private insurance companies a little competition '' is `` the only way '' to be sure that insurance is available to low-income people and people without employer-provided coverage . Meanwhile , leaders of organizations representing America 's doctors and senior citizens defended the proposed health care overhaul that their groups had opposed in past years . Dr. J. James Rohack , president of the American Medical Association , and John Rother of AARP -- formerly the American Association of Retired Persons -- told `` Fox News Sunday '' a comprehensive overhaul sought by Democrats was necessary . `` There are some moving parts that if you just do one and do n't do the other , you 're going to have unintended consequences , '' said Rohack , head of the nation 's largest doctors ' advocacy group . Rother , executive vice president of policy and strategy for the largest senior citizens ' advocacy group , said properly addressing excessive health care costs and waste requires addressing both health insurance coverage and how health care treatment is delivered . Both men rejected accusations that a health care overhaul would bring rationing of health treatment based on bureaucratic measures such as cost and economic productivity of patients . `` There 's a myth that rationing does n't occur right now , '' Rohack said , noting that some companies currently deny coverage for pregnancy as a pre-existing condition . `` That 's why this bill is so important , '' Rohack said . `` It gets rid of rationing happening right now '' and leaves decisions to patients and doctors . Rohack also condemned claims by some Republicans that a provision in one House bill would lead to so-called `` death panels '' encouraging euthanasia of senior citizens . `` That 's absolutely wrong , it 's a falsehood , '' he said , adding that the provision was intended to provide government support for consultations between patients and their doctors . Spreading of the `` death panel '' rumor by some conservative commentators and some Republican politicians prompted emotional opposition at town hall meetings across the country . Senate negotiators on a compromise bill say they have dropped the provision from their proposal due to potential misinterpretation of the intent .