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Under the new policy, contained in a regulation for Medicare, the US government health programme for the elderly, doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care will be paid from the public purse.
According to The New York Times, congressional backers of the new policy have kept quiet for fear provoking a furore similar to the one in 2009 when Republicans seized on the notion of end-of-life counselling to claim the bill would lead to government-ordered death sentences.
The final version of the health care legislation, signed into law by Mr Obama last in March, authorised coverage of annual physical examinations but did not include Section 1233, the most controversial part of the bill.
But now the new regulation states that Medicare will cover "voluntary advance care planning" to discuss end-of-life treatment, as part of these examinations.
"Advance care planning improves end-of-life care and patient and family satisfaction and reduces stress, anxiety and depression in surviving relatives," the administration said in the preamble to the Medicare regulation, which quotes research published in the British Medical Journal.
