President makes another attempt at health care reform.

WASHINGTON President Barack Obama is proposing to give federal authorities the power to limit rate hikes by health insurance companies - a responsibility that traditionally has belonged to states.

The proposal will be part of a new health care overhaul plan that Obama will unveil today in a bid to salvage his top domestic priority, said a White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the details have not been officially released.

Obama has cited recent double-digit insurance rate hikes in California and other states as justification to move ahead with his health care overhaul, stalled in Congress since Democrats lost a Massachusetts Senate seat last month.

The White House was expected to post a version of its plan for overhauling health care on its Web site today, ahead of a crucial summit Thursday at Blair House. The plan, likely to be opposed by the GOP, was expected to require most Americans to carry health insurance coverage, with federal subsidies to help many afford the premiums.

Hewing close to a stalled Senate bill, it would bar insurance companies from denying coverage to people with medical problems or charging them more. The expected price tag is around $1 trillion over 10 years.

The conference at the White House guest residence is to be televised live on C-SPAN and perhaps on cable news networks. It represents a gamble by the administration that Obama can save his embattled overhaul through persuasion - a risky and unusual step.

It was forced on the administration by the Senate special election victory of Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown in January. Brown's victory reduced the Democrats' majority in the Senate to 59 votes, one shy of the number needed to knock down Republican delaying tactics.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Sunday that he would participate but that Obama and congressional Democrats would be wrong to push the bills they wrote in the House and Senate.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, hoped a compromise was possible. "If you really want to serve the people and not just your party, I think you will find that sweet spot and you can get it done," he said.

Schwarzenegger spoke while at the National Governors Association meeting. Four leaders of the group, two Republicans and two Democrats, later offered to strike a compromise between Washington's warring factions.

"We are making an offer to help," said Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat.