The plans would expand health insurance coverage in the states, but no legislation is ready for signature, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Proponents of the plans faced fierce opposition from insurance and other industry groups, making it difficult to build the kind of consensus that made similar plans possible in smaller New England states.

The most ambitious of the plans was drawn up by Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and California Assembly Speaker Fabien Nunez, a Democrat. The bipartisan plan would institute near-universal coverage for the state's residents. However, the plan, which passed the State Assembly last week, has yet to win the approval of the state Senate.

"It's significant that what they've been talking about in California is similar to what many of the leading Democratic presidential candidates are talking about as well," said Larry Levitt, vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, an organization that researches healthcare issues. "There seems to be some convergence at least on the part of those supporting universal healthcare on how to get there."