U.S. President Barack Obama has unveiled a new compromise health-care plan that attempts to bridge the differences between the stalled House and Senate bills.

U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the White House in Washington in December. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters)

The proposal, posted on the White House website on Monday, would not include a publicly run insurance plan, but would allow the government to cap health insurance premiums "if a rate increase is unreasonable and unjustified."

It would also require most Americans to carry health insurance coverage and bar insurance companies from denying coverage to people with medical problems or charging them more.

The proposal claims it will insure more than 31 million Americans who cannot afford health insurance and reduce the U.S. deficit over the next 10 years by $100 billion.

The plan would also scale back a Senate-proposed tax on high-cost health insurance plans objected to by House Democrats and labour unions, but will include a Medicare payroll tax increase on upper-income earners.

The plan would also eliminate what has become known as the "Cornhusker Kickback" — a controversial deal that would have exempted the state of Nebraska of having to pay its share of Medicaid expansion.

Instead, the federal government will provide additional financing to all states for the expansion of Medicaid.

Just before meeting

The new proposal comes just days before a White House health-care summit with congressional leaders of both parties.

The summit at Blair House, the White House guest residence, will be televised live on cable channel C-SPAN's unedited TV feed and perhaps on cable news networks.

Although the Democrats control both the House and the Senate, the two chambers have been unable to agree on health-care legislation, and Republicans have uniformly opposed it.

Obama's plan to reform health care was dealt another blow following the election of Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown to the Senate, which gave the party enough votes to filibuster bills.

House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio dismissed the latest proposal, saying, "the president has crippled the credibility of this week's summit by proposing the same massive government takeover of health care based on a partisan bill the American people have already rejected."

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said it was "disappointing that Democrats in Washington either aren't listening or are completely ignoring what Americans across the country have been saying."

With files from The Associated Press