Senate Democrats took their newfound momentum for health reform into closed-door talks with White House aides Wednesday but still faced a months-old problem: centrist Democrats who aren’t sold on Obama-style reform even now.

If Democratic leadership hoped Republican Olympia Snowe’s decision to cross party lines Tuesday would inspire her fellow middle-of-the-roaders, they were mistaken.

And the moderates’ reluctance to commit showed just how far health reform still has to go, despite getting a boost from Tuesday’s Senate Finance Committee vote...

Liberal Democrats faced off against party moderates and Republicans Tuesday as members of a key Senate panel sparred over the anatomy of the so-called public option proposed in President Obama's health care reform agenda.

Members of the Senate Finance Committee, including Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., proposed separate amendments on the Senate floor Tuesday in an attempt to outline what the government's public plan should look like...

Despite the public outcry over President Obama's government-run healthcare plan, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is insistent on pushing through a government health insurance program that works like Medicare. One healthcare reform expert says Pelosi is not only disregarding the concerns of most Americans, but she's also disregarding the fact that Medicare is $38 trillion in debt and going bankrupt.

Roll Call is reporting that Speaker Pelosi (D-California) is planning to include in the House healthcare bill a new income tax on the wealthiest Americans, as well as a stronger government-run health insurance plan or "public option" than some moderate Blue Dog Democrats desire.

Blue Dogs in the House Energy and Commerce Committee had worked out a deal with Chairman Henry Waxman (D-California) to make a public option negotiate payment rates with medical providers instead of dictating them. However, Pelosi reportedly plans to peg public option payment rates to Medicare payment rates...

As lawmakers prepare to return for their return to Washington next week, House Republicans have a message for their town-mauled Democratic colleagues: August is over only on the calendar.

The end of the summer recess may mean an end to the beatings back home, but Republicans are vowing to keep the pressure up on health care reform straight into September.

If Democrats — particularly the moderate Blue Dogs — thought August was a bad dream, Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) said the GOP is “going to keep the nightmare going through the fall”...