Michelle Obama, wife of US President Barack Obama has come forward to join her husband's campaign of reforming the nation's health care system.

The first lady was speaking on Friday to a gathering of women near the White House and said that the condition of the health care system in the US was unacceptable.

Michelle Obama, speaking as a wife, mother and daughter, urged women to play an active role in overhauling health care system.

Women often are charged more as compared with men of the same age for the same insurance policy.

At one point she spoke against the gender bias and said, "In many states, insurance companies can still discriminate because of gender. And this is still shocking to me."

During her 23-minute speech, the first lady focused on the White House's efforts to expand health care and block insurers' ability to drop customers who get seriously ill.

Mrs. Obama spoke about her daughter Sasha's terrifying bout with meningitis. She said her family was fortunate to have good insurance cover that saved her daughter.

Mrs. Obama also urged women to call members of Congress and to confute false claims about Mr. Obama's health care proposals.