President Barack Obama on Tuesday signaled flexibility on a key health-care issue, suggesting he is open to an overhaul that doesn’t include a government-run program to compete with private insurers. At a White House news conference, Mr. Obama said he hasn’t laid down any absolutes about what must be included in health-care legislation except that it must control costs and help those without insurance or with inadequate coverage.

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Congressional debate over health care hinges on numbers projected a decade forward to make sure the plan can be paid for. But it’s hard enough pinning down today’s numbers. The Census Bureau estimates that the number of uninsured amounts to 45.7 million people. But the agency might be overcounting by millions due to faulty assumptions. Another problem: That 45.7 million figure includes undocumented immigrants, even though they aren’t likely to be covered under new laws.

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Why has health-care reform stalled in Congress? Democrats, after all, control both Houses, and President Obama, whose popularity remains high, has made universal health care his No. 1 priority. What’s more, an overwhelming majority of the public wants it. In the most recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, 76% of respondents said it was important that Americans have a choice between a public and private health-insurance plan. In last week’s New York Times/CBSNews poll, 85% said they wanted major health-care reforms.

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The sour economy is prodding more Americans to buy their own health insurance, a daunting task for people not prepared to navigate the possible pitfalls. Tina Smith, who owns a residential-cleaning service with her husband in Lyndhurst, Ohio, was seeking to lower her premiums when she bought an Assurant Inc. policy from an agent who visited her at home. She says the agent played up the health plan’s affordability and its $2 million lifetime coverage.

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A campaign to publicize the identities of thousands of people receiving hefty government pensions — from onetime professors to former fire chiefs — is catching on around the country.  The effort was launched earlier this year by a California interest group determined to promote its view that steep pension payments are bankrupting states and localities. Newspapers in New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Illinois and elsewhere have published lists of their six-figure public retirees.

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From Papa:

A successful nonprofit makes new friends and knows how to keep old ones.