Dr. Mona Mangat(pictured far left), an allergy immunologist from St. Petersburg, met with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office Monday morning for a talk about health care reform.

"He wanted to thank us for all that we've been doing and encourage us to continue with our movement," she said.

Dr. Mangat is a member of Doctors for America, a grassroots organization that worked to get Obama elected and supports his push for health care reform.

After the meeting, Dr. Mangat stood with the president on the White House lawn as he delivered a speech on health care.

"I am a mother of four young children," she said. "I have two aging parents. I'm a small business owner. And I'm a physician. So, I think I have a unique perspective."

Dr. Mangat says she sees the problems everyday: patients with no insurance that cannot afford to see the doctor, patients with pre-existing conditions that are denied coverage and insurance companies that fight paying for treatment.

"I waste my time on the phone with insurance companies trying to jump through their hoops to try to get my patients the care that they need," she says.

Dr. Mangat called the health care overhaul being pushed by Obama "uniquely American."

"Our values and the way that we practice medicine is different from Canada and the UK," she said.

But, she says there are things that we can learn from systems all over the world.

"Considering how much we spend on healthcare and how advanced we are, we still don't have the lowest infant mortality rate; we still don't have the longest life expectancy," she said.

Dr. Mangat said the terms like "socialized medicine" and "rationed care" are being used to scare people, adding that the majority of the medical community is behind health care reform.