a public option to force change on the insurance companies , the source said . Snowe is pivotal to the debate because she may be Obama 's last possibility for getting a Republican senator to support his push for a health care overhaul . She is one of the so-called `` Gang of Six '' members of the Senate Finance Committee , three Democrats and three Republicans , involved in separate negotiations on the only bipartisan health care proposal in Congress so far . However , the slow pace of those talks and recent partisan attacks by the other two Republicans in the negotiations have dimmed hopes for a breakthrough , leaving Snowe as the only Republican senator that White House aides believe they can work with on the issue . Snowe first proposed the so-called `` trigger '' idea for a public option months ago , and has talked to Obama about it on several occasions , according to a source familiar with the discussions . The source told CNN that the White House staffers increased their phone calls to Snowe aides and their interest in her trigger idea this week . Obama and Democratic leaders seek a solution
WASHINGTON -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- President Obama and top aides have quietly stepped up talks with moderate Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine on a scaled-back health care bill , according to two sources familiar with the negotiations . Sen. Olympia Snowe is part of the bipartisan so-called `` Gang of Six '' negotiating on health care . The compromise plan would lack a government-run public health insurance option favored by Obama , but would leave the door open to adding that provision down the road under an idea proposed by Snowe , the sources said . One of the sources said White House officials are `` deep in conversations '' with Snowe on a much smaller health care bill than Obama originally envisioned . The modified proposal would include insurance reforms , such as preventing insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions , according to the source . The potential deal would give insurance companies a defined period to make such changes in order to help cover more people and drive down long-term costs . But if those changes failed to occur within the defined period , a so-called `` trigger '' would provide for creating