US President Barack Obama is to face questions on his healthcare reform proposals at a town-hall style meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

A number of recent healthcare forums, organised by Democratic lawmakers, have been marked by rowdy behaviour from opponents of reform.

Passing a healthcare reform bill is Mr Obama’s top domestic priority for 2009.

But lawmakers were unable to agree on the details of reform before breaking for their August recess.

Meetings disrupted

Some 47 million Americans currently do not have health insurance, and rising healthcare costs are a major contributing factor to America’s spiralling budget deficit.

But there is disagreement about how to go about reforming the system.

HEALTHCARE IN THE US

• 47 million uninsured, 25 million under-insured
• Healthcare costs represent 16% of GDP, almost twice OECD average
• Reform plans would require all Americans to get insurance
• Some propose public insurance option to compete with private insurers

Q&A: US healthcare reform

Democrats in the House of Representatives have reportedly reached a deal on a bill that would mandate all Americans to take out health insurance, with subsidies for the less well-off, paid for by a surtax on families earning over $350,000 a year.

The House bill would also offer Americans who do not get coverage through their employer the chance to join a publicly-run scheme.

But in the Senate, negotiations have stalled, with moderate senators expressing opposition to the surtax and the public plan proposed by the House of Representatives.

Both chambers need to agree on a bill before it can become law.

Mr Obama wants to pass healthcare reform by the end of the year, and had called on the Senate and the House to agree their own versions of a bill before the August recess, but lawmakers missed the deadline.

During the recess, a number of healthcare "town-hall" style meetings hosted by Democratic politicians have been targeted by conservative opponents of reform.

The opposition has sometimes been quite rowdy, with anti-reform campaigners chanting slogans and shouting down supporters of a healthcare bill.

Proponents of reform say the protests are being organised by well-funded lobbying groups, while opponents say they are a genuine expression of anger at Mr Obama’s proposals.

Polls suggest that a majority of Americans support many of the administration’s healthcare reform proposals.

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