HARRISBURG — Health care negotiations between the Rendell administration and some Senate Republicans are progressing and could result in a deal to cover hundreds of thousands of uninsured adults and pay for generic prescription drugs, the governor said Wednesday.

Gov. Ed Rendell also urged the General Assembly to add more session days to its calendar to work on health care and energy legislation before the Nov. 4 election.

"These are crucial issues that can't be deferred," the Democratic governor said during a conference call with journalists.

Rendell said a surplus in a tobacco tax funded account that helps doctors pay malpractice premiums has grown so large that the state can insure about 200,000 more adults in the first year, and about 400,000 adults within three years.

Expanded health coverage has long been a policy priority of Rendell's, and his latest remarks pushed for action before the General Assembly's two-year session soon expires. The state Senate is not expected to reconvene in a lame-duck postelection session, and there are only a handful of session days scheduled for September and October.

Rendell, the House Democrats and Senate Republicans have offered different proposals to make health care more affordable, and the governor said he is looking for middle ground.

"We're trying to include some of the best elements of their proposal with our elements that would increase coverage," Rendell said.

Sen. Ted Erickson, a Delaware County Republican who chairs the Public Health and Welfare Committee, said Wednesday that settling on a funding source, particularly going into the future, remains a sticking point.

"I keep saying that — maybe it's to convince myself — that I'm being optimistic about it," he said.

As for the prospect for more legislative session days, a spokesman for House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, D-Greene, indicated that was unlikely.

"We don't need more session days, we need the Senate to stand up for uninsured adults by concurring on our proposal that we sent them 177 days ago," said DeWeese's press secretary, Tom Andrews. The House has scheduled lame duck voting days for November.

A spokesman for the Senate Republican caucus, which controls that chamber's calendar, did not return messages seeking reaction to Rendell's call for additional session days.

The House is expected to take up a potentially contentious debate on revisions to the state's dog law when it returns Monday.

"We all know what needs to be done and I think they can get it done in a couple of hours," Rendell said.