[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/09/04/art.obamaov.0904.gi.jpg
caption="CNN has learned that the White House is working to draft health care legislation."]

WASHINGTON (CNN) - CNN has learned that the White House is quietly talking about drafting formal health care legislation after allowing Congress to work on its own for months.

Multiple sources close to the process told CNN Friday that while the plan is uncertain, they are preparing for the possibility they could deliver their own legislation to Capitol Hill sometime after the President Barack Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress Wednesday, with one source calling the possibility of new legislation a "contingency" approach if efforts by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus to craft a deal fall through.

The White House emphasized Friday that no formal bill has yet been written. "The President has been reviewing all of the various legislative proposals, but no decision has been made about whether formal legislation will be presented," said Deputy Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer.

Multiple sources told CNN earlier in the day the thinking among administration officials was that the president will lay out a path to reform in his speech next week that the White House hopes can bridge the various differences in the competing proposals. Sources expect the president to emphasize the message: If Congress passes something now, it will serve as a foundation to pass further reform in the future.

As previously reported, the so-called trigger option remains very much on the table.

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