Model universal health care plan

Any healthcare system must:

1. Preserve competition among providers for insurance policies, healthcare products and healthcare services in order to lower prices.

2. Preserve the profit motive to fund R&D of new medical products and procedures.

Taxes to consider:
Television sets

Cable and satellite TV services (based on the number of channels and number of receivers)

CD/MP3/IPOD players

DVD players

Video cassette recorders

Video cassette players

Pre-recorded video tapes

Digital video recorders

Pre-recorded CDs, DVDs, cassette tapes and MP3 recordings

Entertainment themed software

Computers

Video game systems

Video game disks, cartridges et cetera

Automobiles for personal use (proportional to the number of autos owned by a household- the more autos you own the higher your tax rate)

Tobacco products (in addition to whatever taxes now exist)

Alcohol products (in addition to whatever taxes now exist)

Packaged processed foods based on calories

Restaurant foods based on calories

Internet service providers not used exclusively for business

Progressive tariff on products imported from the People's Republic of China based on the amount of products imported, i.e., the more you import the higher your tariff rate

Corporate stock owned by non-U.S. citizens or companies not owned by U.S. citizens

Real estate owned by non-U.S. citizens or companies not owned by U.S. citizens

Consumer credit card debt

Consumer finance loans

Sale of contracts for the future sale of gold, silver, crude petroleum, refined petroleum products, agricultural products based on the value of the contracts

Sale of corporate stock that has been owned for less than 1 year

Payroll tax for any employer with more than 1000 employees when the employer doesn't provide health insurance to employees that work more than 15 hours a week; employees of franchised companies will be counted as employees of a single employer as far as determining the number of employees an employer has


Requirements:

Impose price limitations on all medical products that are otherwise sold over-the-counter (adhesive bandages that Wal-Mart can sell for a penny a piece shouldn't cost $5 just because they are sold by a hospital or doctor)

End all subsidies, insurance programs and disaster aid to tobacco farmers

Create a nutrition education program for grades 1-8

Fund daily PE programs for grades 1-8

Revamp the school lunch program to avoid high-calorie/low nutrition meals

Ban advertising of prescription medications

Prohibit the sale of soft drinks at all public schools

Prohibit the sale for profit of all food items at public schools apart from what is permitted under the revised school lunch program menus

Restrict the products that can be purchased by food stamps to insure that recipients maintain a nutritious diet

Basic plan:
The plan will provide 3 levels of coverage.

Basic coverage will be offered to everyone and will include a yearly health assessment examination as well as routine vaccinations and coverage for minor incidental medical needs (illness and injury).

Anyone who is enrolled in the basic coverage plan will be required to enroll in the chronic and catastrophic plans as well.

The chronic coverage plan will include things like pregnancy, diabetes and hypertension.

The catastrophic coverage plan will cover things like cancer, heart disease and paralysis.

Things to be abolished so existing appropriations can be diverted to cover the cost of the program:
PBS

National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities

Eliminate President's Day, MLK birthday and Columbus Day as paid holidays for federal employees

Economic Development Administration

Minority Business Development Agency

African Development Foundation

Corporation for National Community Service

Inter-American Foundation

National Science Foundation

Pease Corps

United States International Development Cooperation Agency


How the plan works:

Doctors and insurance companies will create a standardized set of health assessment criteria that will determine a person's overall health and the likelihood that he will need certain types and amounts of medical care during the next year based on the person's age, gender, family history, lifestyle et cetera. A person's health assessment will be expressed as a numerical score.

Each year all insurance companies that wish to participate in the program will submit bids for premiums to cover each possible health assessment score for each level of coverage (routine, chronic and catastrophic). The bids for each health assessment score will be averaged to determine the national average.

Persons who are enrolled in the plan will receive a voucher equal to 100% of the national average premium for an insurance policy to provide routine health care. Each enrolled person will use the voucher to purchase a routine health care insurance policy from one of the participating insurance companies. If the person purchases a policy that costs more than the national average, he must pay the difference. If he purchases a policy that costs less than the national average, he may apply the difference towards his purchase of the chronic health care insurance policy that he must buy.

Each year's health assessment score will be converted to a percent chance that he will need chronic medical care during the next year. Each enrolled person will receive a voucher equal to: [100% of the average premium] - [(percent chance of need) x (100% of average premium)]. This way the more burden a person puts on the healthcare system the more he pays in insurance premium. Each enrolled person must use the voucher to purchase a chronic health care insurance policy from one of the participating insurance companies. If the person purchases a policy that costs more than the national average, he must pay the difference. If he purchases a policy that costs less than the national average, he may apply the difference towards his purchase of the catastrophic health care insurance policy that he must buy.

Each year's health assessment score will be converted to a percent chance that he will need catastrophic medical care during the next year. Each enrolled person will receive a voucher equal to: [100% of the average premium] - [(percent chance of need) x (100% of average premium)]. Each enrolled person must use the voucher to purchase a catastrophic health care insurance policy from one of the participating insurance companies. If the person purchases a policy that costs more than the national average, he must pay the difference. If he purchases a policy that costs less than the national average, he may apply the difference towards alternative treatments or lifestyle modification programs.

Each year medical service providers and medical product providers that wish to participate in the program will submit bids for all services and products they wish to provide. These bids will be used to determine a national average cost. These averages must be published and provided to each person who is enrolled in the program. Persons who are enrolled in the program may obtain medical services and products from any participating provider. Insurance companies will pay the average cost. If the enrolled person uses a provider whose price is greater than the average, the person must pay the difference. If the person uses a provider whose price is lower than the average, he will receive a voucher for the difference from the federal government that he may apply to his out-of-pocket costs for medical products and services or apply them to alternative treatments or lifestyle modification programs or apply them towards the next year's insurance premiums.