Against Republican charges that they are engineering a government takeover of health care, Democrats have been trying to get party centrists on board as they compile their overhaul plans.

President Obama reached out this week to the American Medical Association, which has aligned with the GOP in the past. Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus , D-Mont., has repeatedly emphasized that he is working with the panel’s top Republican, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, to write a bipartisan bill.

Now, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , whose liberal committee leaders will write health care legislation, is attempting to engage moderate Democrats whose votes she will need on the floor.

One of the California Democrat’s most significant gestures in that direction was to tap John Yarmuth of Kentucky, a former Republican now in his second term, to serve as her strategic communications adviser on health care.

Yarmuth, a former magazine publisher and radio and TV commentator, is one of a number of centrists with whom Pelosi is consulting in an effort to build consensus for a health care overhaul and to design a message that will counter GOP attacks.

Others include Dennis Cardoza of California, a member of the fiscally conservative “Blue Dogs” who attends leadership meetings, and Bruce Braley of Iowa, a vice chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and a leader of the new Populist Caucus.

“They are a part of the effort to build consensus in our caucus, so we can get everybody to agree,” said Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer , D-Md. “They won’t necessarily get what they want. But they can get some variation of what they want that is good enough for them to support.”

Yarmuth said he was urging Pelosi to deliver a populist message to woo wavering Democrats. “We want competition, not socialism,” Yarmuth said. “If you take away the public option, you’ve said we trust the insurance companies to solve the problem,” he added, referring to a proposed government-run health insurance plan.

But Yarmuth is not only a media and message adviser. He is also a potential rainmaker who could help win over middle-of-the-road Democrats on key issues.

In May, Yarmuth launched his Article I leadership political action committee. Although he declines to take donations from insurers and drug companies, he has held several health-care-related fundraising events in recent weeks sponsored by providers such as the American Hospital Association and Kidney Care Partners. And in his most recent financial disclosure statement, Yarmuth listed shares of Almost Family Inc., a Louisville home health services company headed by his brother, William, valued between $1 million and $5 million.

During the last Congress, Pelosi, a progressive who represents the San Francisco area, developed priorities in tandem with liberal allies including Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Californians George Miller , Henry A. Waxman and Zoe Lofgren . She also worked closely with pragmatists including Rahm Emanuel of Illinois (2003-09), who is now Obama’s chief of staff.

Miller, Waxman and Charles B. Rangel of New York head the three House committees charged with writing a health care bill, but Pelosi is talking with others as she assembles support for Obama’s top legislative priority.

“She’s been trying to include more centrists like Dennis Cardoza in a liberal inner circle,” said former Majority Whip Tony Coelho, D-Calif. (1979-89). As chairman of the Partnership to Improve Patient Care, an alliance of patient and industry groups, Coelho has been pushing for a consensus health care initiative.