Obama health arsenal includes downsized option

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The array of healthcare overhaul options being considered by President Barack Obama includes a downsized plan that would cover only 15 million Americans who now lack it, half the number in his broader plan, a source familiar with the discussions said on Thursday.

The fallback proposal would expand coverage through some of the mechanisms in his healthcare overhaul proposal, such as allowing children to stay on their parents' health coverage until age 26.

The proposal is merely an option, not an administration goal, the source said.

"It's not where we are," the source said.

It was developed as the Democratic administration considered various healthcare options after the party lost a Massachusetts seat in the U.S. Senate and with it the 60-seat "supermajority" in the 100-seat Senate that would have allowed it to pass legislation without worrying about Republican procedural roadblocks, the source said.

Obama hosted a televised bipartisan healthcare "summit" on Thursday seen as a last-ditch bid to salvage his stalled healthcare overhaul.

As he walked from the White House to Blair House, the site of the summit on Thursday, Obama was asked whether he had a "Plan B."

"I've always got plans," he told reporters.