American President Barack Obama, said this week that the US could go broke if it failed to overhaul its health care system.

Mr Obama compared the country’s crumbling health industry with a “ticking timebomb” and called on America’s doctors to support his programme for change.

Mr Obama said at a Chicago meeting: “To say it as plainly as I can, health care is the single most important thing we can do for America's long-term fiscal health - that is a fact. If we do not fix our health care system, America may go the way of GM, paying more, getting less and going broke.”

Mr Obama said that despite America’s huge wealth, tens of millions of people still did not have any health insurance cover.

“We are not a nation that accepts nearly 46 million uninsured men, women and children, we are a nation that cares for its citizens, we are a people who look out for one another,” he said.

The Obama administration plan is proposing a public programme that would compete with the private insurance plans held by many employers.

The scheme comes at a time when health care costs are mounting up quickly and many bosses and workers are struggling to pay insurance bills.