A federal advisory panel said Monday that Congress should take immediate steps to guarantee that all Americans have access to affordable health care by 2012.

As a first step, the 14-member panel, appointed by the comptroller general of the United States, said, "A national public or private program must be established to ensure protection against very high out-of-pocket medical costs for everyone."

The panel, the Citizens' Health Care Working Group, said Congress should create an independent "public-private entity" to define a basic set of health care benefits and services for all Americans.

While leaving many details to be worked out, the panel declared, "It should be public policy, written in law, that all Americans have affordable access to health care."