uninsured

The United States has one of the world's most advanced but also most complicated health care systems, plagued by widespread waste and costs that have escalated as the US population ages, experts say. Venturing where others have failed, President Barack Obama is now proposing to spend US$634 billion on reforms aimed at expanding health care coverage among the nearly 46 million uninsured Americans. How he should do it - and whether it should be done at all - are likely to be the subject of fierce debate.