The new US president has started laying the foundations for solving a growing problem in his country: the health care system. He began by reaching out to interest groups and putting the idea to the public, using the same internet techniques as in his election campaign, with a website to collect public suggestions.
As a spokesman for Obama's team put it: "Every American feels the strain caused by the high cost of health care and the poor quality of the services we receive."
The new administration has begun a series of meetings with experts in the field to gather their views and suggestions, according to industry sources.
During the campaign, Obama pledged to move medical records to electronic systems, at a cost of about 50 billion dollars, as part of helping all Americans get health coverage.
Health care has become Americans' third biggest concern after the economy and the war in Iraq. Although the US spends more on health than any other developed country, about 47 million Americans have no health insurance. Working citizens get their insurance through their jobs, which weighs heavily on employers as medical costs rise. One of the clearest examples is the car industry, which has suffered huge losses and is asking the government for billions in aid, partly because of the cost of health insurance.
Health care costs make up 16% of US gross domestic product, or 2.3 trillion dollars, and are expected to keep rising fast, reaching 4 trillion dollars by 2015.
One of the greatest paradoxes in the world's most advanced country is that some of its citizens go without care because hospitals won't take them, while treatment costs are huge and inflated, and insurers drop patients quickly when their treatment becomes expensive.
Like
Love
Angry
Dislike
