A YouTube video of US President-elect Barack Obama's weekly radio address is seen on a computer screen in Chicago on November 22, 2008. Change.gov, the website of president-elect Barack Obama's transition team, has invited visitors to submit their views on health care, drawing hundreds of comments in less than 24 hours.

Change.gov, the website of president-elect Barack Obama's transition team, has invited visitors to submit their views on health care, drawing hundreds of comments in less than 24 hours.

Change.gov added the new feature called "Join the Discussion" late Tuesday, asking users for their answers to the question "What worries you most about the healthcare system in our country?"

To jump-start the discussion, the site featured a video from two members of Obama's Health Policy Transition Team asking users for their opinions by email.

As of mid-day (1700 GMT), more than 1,500 comments had been submitted to the site, which also allows registered users to give a thumb's up or thumb's down to each post, voting it up or down in the rankings according to popularity.

The current top-rated comment, with a score of plus 41, is from a user identified as "kllmt" who calls for a shift to more preventative care.

In announcing "Join the Discussion," the Obama transition team said it was seeking "instant feedback from you about our top priorities."

"We also hope it will allow you to form communities around these issues -- with the best ideas and most interesting discussions floating to the top," it said in a posting on the website.

Obama has promised to run a more open and transparent administration and "Join the Discussion" is the first foray by the Obama transition team into hosting a forum for public debate.

Obama has posted his last two weekly addresses to the nation on video-sharing site YouTube but the comments function has been disabled, prompting some grumbling among transparency advocates.

When Change.gov was launched on November 6 following Obama's election victory it included an appeal to users to share their ideas but there was no public display of the submissions.

Last week, the Obama election campaign also sent a detailed online survey by email to millions of supporters asking for their feedback to "help shape the future of this movement."

© 2008 AFP