Mr Obama made public health a key part of his election campaign

US President Barack Obama is due to outline his controversial healthcare reform plans to a meeting of doctors in a bid to secure their support.

At the annual meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA), he is expected to set out his argument for a public insurance programme.

Doctors, along with other groups, are divided over Mr Obama’s proposals.

Health reform was one of Mr Obama’s key election promises. Nearly 50 million people are without medical insurance.

Mr Obama is proposing a 10-year reform programme, estimated to cost about $1 trillion, that would make healthcare available to all Americans.

While many accept the need for some healthcare reforms, debate is raging over the details.

Proposed savings

In his speech to the AMA, President Obama will make his case for “a health insurance exchange where private plans compete with a public option that drives down costs and expands choice,” a senior administration official was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.

But many groups - including the AMA - have expressed concern that a public plan would have competitive advantages that would ultimately drive private insurers out of the market.

An AMA board member told a Senate panel hearing last week that the group “strongly opposes” a public, government-run insurance plan that pays physicians at the rates of the Medicare programme for the elderly.

Dr Samantha Rosman said the AMA is in favour “of a new option that is market-based and not run by the government”.

President Obama on Sunday announced a further $313bn (£190bn) in proposed savings to help reform healthcare.

He said the savings - made by cutting waste in the Medicare programme and the Medicaid programme for poor people - would “rein in unnecessary spending and increase efficiency and the quality of care”.

The money comes on top of the $635bn down payment on reform detailed in the budget proposal submitted to Congress this year.

The US spends more than $2 trillion a year on healthcare, although about 15% of the population have no medical cover.