President Barack Obama has challenged critics of his push to overhaul America's health-care system to stop the ''outrageous myths'' fanning an acrimonious, nationwide debate on the policy.
The President said he does not intend a Government takeover of health care as critics have claimed at town hall-style meetings with members of Congress.
''This is an issue of vital concern to every American, and I'm glad that so many are engaged,'' he said. ''But it also should be an honest debate, not one dominated by wilful misrepresentations and outright distortions, spread by the very folks who would benefit the most by keeping things exactly as they are.''
Mr Obama also took a swipe at ''death panels,'' an idea former Alaska governor Sarah Palin introduced on her Facebook page.
''As every credible person who has looked into it has said, there are no so-called death panels an offensive notion to me and to the American people,'' Mr Obama said. ''These are phoney claims meant to divide us.'' The US is the only developed nation that has no national health-care plan for all of its citizens, and about 50 million Americans have no health insurance.
Mr Obama has proposed a system that will include government and private insurers. AP
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