Universal, single Payer, Health Care Plan09
Use a National Sales tax to fund a single payer universal health care system.
GOVERNMENT FUNDED, NOT RUN
** YES WE CAN **
This is a plan that insures everyone, with everyone paying their fair share and returning to the doctor, the total responsibility for the health care of all Americans. The politicians, insurance companies, unions and lawyers all have their power curtailed in favor of the doctors. The employers are relieved of their responsibility to fund the major part of the cost and in place everyone pays for their own care when they spend their money. The need for many laws to fund this program is unnecessary, because the people will determine that when they spend their money. Fraud to gain HC money will be more difficult. Most of all, the prevention of diseases will be put in the doctors hands.
In the process, there will be more new businesses, and jobs, while present businesses will start rehiring the people they laid off. Money will have more buying power, because the cost of all goods and services will be less.
There will be a tremendous savings to the tax payer through less administration costs and interference with good medicine. Less government and fewer taxes will be needed. This could be as much as a 50% savings or over $1.2 Trillion to the tax payer. Where doctors need help delivering health care, they have the Free Market for help.
THE PLAN09
My definition of Universal Health Care is the process of preventing, treating and curing diseases. I also believe this system could include a specific amount of money designated for disease research. However, a Free Market approach may be a better approach than government. Accidents are not part of this system, but will continue to be covered with the present private insurance programs operating for profit. Accidents can be avoided through education. Workman’s Comp, liability, and any other situation that insurance companies find to be insurable and people are willing to buy, will be handled strictly through the free market with only registered insurance companies participating. The government will not be involved. All medical records and their costs will be part of this data base. This includes all accident medical records and costs. Eye, ear, and dental will all be listed as a disease and will be covered under this new plan. These, however, should have limits, since there are personal choices people make to up-grade the equipment or procedures at a cost they elect to pay. These additional costs will also be part of the medical data base. When these upgrades appear reasonable and affordable, they can be the accepted recommendation to the health care plan.
I propose a National Sales Tax on individuals when they spend their money in America. Money seems to be the common denominator for everyone, whether they have a job or not. Everyone spends money, only some more than others.
Most sales taxes are collected by the seller, who pays the tax over to the government which charges the tax. The economic burden of the tax usually falls on the purchaser, but in some circumstances may fall on the seller. Sales taxes are commonly charged on sales of goods, but many sales taxes are also charged on sales of services. In a highly idealized case, a sales tax would have a high compliance rate, be difficult to avoid, and be simple to calculate and simple to collect. (Wikapedia)
A National Sales Tax looks like a good fit for Health Care Reform. Put all the tax money into its own Health Care Fund, from which all universal health care costs are paid. The tax rate will be adjusted when more or less money is needed. The Federal Government will make no profit and will lose no money on health care. I see four separate rates funding Health Care. Everyone will pay the same sales tax except for those things that are necessary for life, such as food, which will have a lower rate. Purchases that seem to be excessive will have what we normally call Luxury Tax, and these will be taxed at a much higher rate, because the people purchasing them can afford them. There will also be a penalty tax on all purchases that will cause the health care costs to increase. As experience is gained, the rates can be modified to keep the system as fair as possible. Also, moving products and services in and out of rate groups may be advisable as experience is gained and each group becomes more defined. Nothing is set in stone.
The Committee of Budget and Management will be responsible for setting the tax rates based on facts they would normally have available to them. The CBM appears to be the Agency best qualified to be responsible for the funding system. They will also adjust the main rate based on needs.
Those that are presently collecting health care funds from the government and insurance companies will revise what they would bill them to be the true costs of what the coded description really costs, excluding all unnecessary charges that were charged to cover unnecessary things. They will send these new figures for each code they use to a central data base. The computer will work with these numbers and print out the average, high, low and the mean numbers. These will be the initial starting point to get going. A realistic and acceptable range of costs for each code will be published and all charges must fall within this range. The costs of Health Care should only go down. With constant monitoring in place the records will show costs and effectiveness of health care being given the people.
The practitioner doctor will now be the first line of defense for our Health Care system.
The records become readily available to those needing the information, similar to the system used by *Geisinger Health System in rural Pa. This system appears simple and easy to implement and able to do all the things I think this plan will require. Just having all the records in one place makes the most sense. Health care in America today has it’s records disconnected and scattered, with no control. Privacy is weak and reliability is poor. Bring accurate information together and use it to solve problems, is the only way to move ahead; garbage in, garbage out.
All the data will go into a super data base, and the information will be used by anyone looking to improve the health of the patient or to decrease the overall costs to the tax payer. Pharmaceutical companies, universities, research companies, insurance companies, doctors, hospitals and even the patients themselves will all use this data for their own reasons. With the records in a central location privacy is easier to control. Others wanting to use the information must go through a standard procedure before gaining access to the data. It is important that those using the data understand exactly what the limitations are and the degree of accuracy the data has. All record keeping procedures are started, changed or deleted from this one location. The computer can be programmed to flag discrepancy's. The statisticians will work with the numbers and let the appropriate people know if a problem exists. This data base could also be linked to other data bases throughout the world, making health care even more manageable. Health is important to us all and the sharing of this type information should be made as simple as possible.
(My Idea) The medical group making all the decisions will be formed by having 3 representatives elected by their piers to represent them; doctors, nurses, psychologists, dentists, ear doctors, eye doctors, chiropractors, etc. Each member will serve only 3 years, one replaced each year. The representatives will be paid the same and will only meet as required. Note: These three people will be able to communicate electronically, ideas amongst themselves and come up with solutions to real problems they are incurring today. This keeps the professionals in the field and prevents abuse of power. To start with, there should be 5 representatives with 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, year terms. For the first 2 years, one member drops out. The third year one drops out and a new member comes in. From then on there will only be three members. Their initial responsibility will be to establish the most realistic charges for all the medical procedures. They already know what they are because they had to use them to make sure they were making a profit in spite of all the waste in the system, just satisfying unnecessary mandates dictated by the government and insurance companies. I feel things will smooth out within a couple years and everyone will know what everything costs, including the patient. If a procedure costs $5000 in California, but only $1000 in Chicago, something is wrong. The people working with the data base are the ones to investigate why and report back to the medical group. I don’t think there should be standard costs for specific things, but as we gain experience there should only be guidelines. People are all different and must be treated different. If a set charge is established, this will prevent the physician to always use their judgment for that patient. If not, there will never be improvements or learning from honest mistakes. Our goal is to always reduce the cost without creating an unacceptable situation. Nobody should get rich from health care, but these same people need to be fairly compensated for their efforts. They must enjoy what they have chosen as their life work.
A persons time is worth something and everyone has a value of $/hr. A piece of equipment or building or operating room has an hourly rate for its use, an operating room has an hourly rate. A building or office has an operating OH. All these are real numbers. This new plan uses these numbers and not the numbers our present system uses, which I feel does not make sense. How can I understand my bill if it always has an adjustment? I hope my plan brings common sense to this complex monster.
Benefits:
The health care costs will be paid a little at a time, while people are healthy and while they are spending their money. When they get sick and need medical care, their medical bills are already paid. The government will eliminate a lot of the entitlement programs we couldn't afford, because they are no longer needed. The taxes now used for health care can be eliminated. Medicare and Medicaid can also be eliminated along with its debt to the people. Everyone will now be covered equally.
All employers will be relieved of the responsibilities of paying for health insurance. This includes GM, FORD, CHRYSLER and every other employer of people, including our own government. Schools, cities, military will all have money now to do what they need to do without raising taxes. Small businesses with new ideas can grow and big businesses can start competing with the world market on a level playing field again. Since the tax payers were paying all the health care costs anyway, just eliminating all the waste, will as a whole, pay less. Those with the most money will pay more because they spend more. We all pay our fair share.
With the records always available to the patient, they will see exactly what is happening to them, including what it is costing us, the tax payer. Knowing the real costs, the people will be the watchdog for these charges, because people talk to each other and always compare notes. If there is a problem, it will be known and the facts are there. The patient knows what they are getting for the money they are paying. Geisingers’s System looks like this is possible.
If social security were to use the same process by eliminating the Trust Fund and start their own fund, the same as this health care system, their problems could also be solved. In fact, they should tax the wage earner from dollar one on up, as long as money is being earned. The tax rate could be reduced and adjusted every year to control costs. About $45 Trillion of the total national debt can be eliminated immediately which includes Medicare and Medicaid. Businesses can employ more people; reduce work hours to allow people more time to spend money. People can work closer to home, travel less and enjoy their work, instead of working just for the benefits large companies provide. Unions would have less demands for the employers to deal with.
All our children, veterans, homeless, American Indians, seniors and government employees will have the best health care available, FREE, when they need it.
Retirees will again enjoy retirement and start volunteering; giving back to the next generation all the experience they have learned to help them do the same when they retire. Because I have the interest and time today I am able to do what I just did.
It has been said many times that our Health Care System is broken and is beyond repair. The 2008 Presidential Candidates all said our health care system should be as good as what they have in Washington. Checking this out it appears the only difference is someone else pays for it. It was also said that the wealthy are getting wealthier and the poor are getting poorer. More middle class people are going onto the poor end of the economic scale than the wealthy end. It has also been said that our present system is so complex and full of waste that to try and repair it, is impossible.
This plan offers a whole new approach that uses these premises:
1. Everyone must be covered equally.
2. Everyone must pay their fair share.
3. The system must be affordable and sustainable forever.
4. The Medical Profession must be in charge of medical decisions.
5. The Federal Government must provide the funding through taxes from ALL THE PEOPLE.
6. The system must be simple, flexible and manageable.
7. The costs must be transparent.
8. This system must be able to insure that all changes in the health care system will result in reducing overall costs.
This looks like a WIN WIN PLAN.
WHY NOT?
Don Zwiers, Joliet, Illinois
Uhcplan09@sbcglobal.net
PS This idea has been sent to:
Senator Obama
President Obama
VP Biden
David Axelrod
Timothy Geithner
Rahm Emanuel
Melody Barnes
Peter Orszag
Senator Durbin
Senator Burris
Congresswoman Halvorson
Congressman Jackson Jr
“ Conrad
“ Coburn
“ Kennedy
“ Schumer
Secty Kathleen Sebelius
AARP
CNN
Chicago Tribune
Washington Post
USA Today
NY Times
Plus many more, with no reply, other than a standard form letter. I know that if you got this far into reading this I have a chance to get an honest reply. I need to know WHY NOT? Its our grandchildren we are talking about, not us.
GOVERNMENT FUNDED, NOT RUN
** YES WE CAN **
This is a plan that insures everyone, with everyone paying their fair share and returning to the doctor, the total responsibility for the health care of all Americans. The politicians, insurance companies, unions and lawyers all have their power curtailed in favor of the doctors. The employers are relieved of their responsibility to fund the major part of the cost and in place everyone pays for their own care when they spend their money. The need for many laws to fund this program is unnecessary, because the people will determine that when they spend their money. Fraud to gain HC money will be more difficult. Most of all, the prevention of diseases will be put in the doctors hands.
In the process, there will be more new businesses, and jobs, while present businesses will start rehiring the people they laid off. Money will have more buying power, because the cost of all goods and services will be less.
There will be a tremendous savings to the tax payer through less administration costs and interference with good medicine. Less government and fewer taxes will be needed. This could be as much as a 50% savings or over $1.2 Trillion to the tax payer. Where doctors need help delivering health care, they have the Free Market for help.
THE PLAN09
My definition of Universal Health Care is the process of preventing, treating and curing diseases. I also believe this system could include a specific amount of money designated for disease research. However, a Free Market approach may be a better approach than government. Accidents are not part of this system, but will continue to be covered with the present private insurance programs operating for profit. Accidents can be avoided through education. Workman’s Comp, liability, and any other situation that insurance companies find to be insurable and people are willing to buy, will be handled strictly through the free market with only registered insurance companies participating. The government will not be involved. All medical records and their costs will be part of this data base. This includes all accident medical records and costs. Eye, ear, and dental will all be listed as a disease and will be covered under this new plan. These, however, should have limits, since there are personal choices people make to up-grade the equipment or procedures at a cost they elect to pay. These additional costs will also be part of the medical data base. When these upgrades appear reasonable and affordable, they can be the accepted recommendation to the health care plan.
I propose a National Sales Tax on individuals when they spend their money in America. Money seems to be the common denominator for everyone, whether they have a job or not. Everyone spends money, only some more than others.
Most sales taxes are collected by the seller, who pays the tax over to the government which charges the tax. The economic burden of the tax usually falls on the purchaser, but in some circumstances may fall on the seller. Sales taxes are commonly charged on sales of goods, but many sales taxes are also charged on sales of services. In a highly idealized case, a sales tax would have a high compliance rate, be difficult to avoid, and be simple to calculate and simple to collect. (Wikapedia)
A National Sales Tax looks like a good fit for Health Care Reform. Put all the tax money into its own Health Care Fund, from which all universal health care costs are paid. The tax rate will be adjusted when more or less money is needed. The Federal Government will make no profit and will lose no money on health care. I see four separate rates funding Health Care. Everyone will pay the same sales tax except for those things that are necessary for life, such as food, which will have a lower rate. Purchases that seem to be excessive will have what we normally call Luxury Tax, and these will be taxed at a much higher rate, because the people purchasing them can afford them. There will also be a penalty tax on all purchases that will cause the health care costs to increase. As experience is gained, the rates can be modified to keep the system as fair as possible. Also, moving products and services in and out of rate groups may be advisable as experience is gained and each group becomes more defined. Nothing is set in stone.
The Committee of Budget and Management will be responsible for setting the tax rates based on facts they would normally have available to them. The CBM appears to be the Agency best qualified to be responsible for the funding system. They will also adjust the main rate based on needs.
Those that are presently collecting health care funds from the government and insurance companies will revise what they would bill them to be the true costs of what the coded description really costs, excluding all unnecessary charges that were charged to cover unnecessary things. They will send these new figures for each code they use to a central data base. The computer will work with these numbers and print out the average, high, low and the mean numbers. These will be the initial starting point to get going. A realistic and acceptable range of costs for each code will be published and all charges must fall within this range. The costs of Health Care should only go down. With constant monitoring in place the records will show costs and effectiveness of health care being given the people.
The practitioner doctor will now be the first line of defense for our Health Care system.
The records become readily available to those needing the information, similar to the system used by *Geisinger Health System in rural Pa. This system appears simple and easy to implement and able to do all the things I think this plan will require. Just having all the records in one place makes the most sense. Health care in America today has it’s records disconnected and scattered, with no control. Privacy is weak and reliability is poor. Bring accurate information together and use it to solve problems, is the only way to move ahead; garbage in, garbage out.
All the data will go into a super data base, and the information will be used by anyone looking to improve the health of the patient or to decrease the overall costs to the tax payer. Pharmaceutical companies, universities, research companies, insurance companies, doctors, hospitals and even the patients themselves will all use this data for their own reasons. With the records in a central location privacy is easier to control. Others wanting to use the information must go through a standard procedure before gaining access to the data. It is important that those using the data understand exactly what the limitations are and the degree of accuracy the data has. All record keeping procedures are started, changed or deleted from this one location. The computer can be programmed to flag discrepancy's. The statisticians will work with the numbers and let the appropriate people know if a problem exists. This data base could also be linked to other data bases throughout the world, making health care even more manageable. Health is important to us all and the sharing of this type information should be made as simple as possible.
(My Idea) The medical group making all the decisions will be formed by having 3 representatives elected by their piers to represent them; doctors, nurses, psychologists, dentists, ear doctors, eye doctors, chiropractors, etc. Each member will serve only 3 years, one replaced each year. The representatives will be paid the same and will only meet as required. Note: These three people will be able to communicate electronically, ideas amongst themselves and come up with solutions to real problems they are incurring today. This keeps the professionals in the field and prevents abuse of power. To start with, there should be 5 representatives with 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, year terms. For the first 2 years, one member drops out. The third year one drops out and a new member comes in. From then on there will only be three members. Their initial responsibility will be to establish the most realistic charges for all the medical procedures. They already know what they are because they had to use them to make sure they were making a profit in spite of all the waste in the system, just satisfying unnecessary mandates dictated by the government and insurance companies. I feel things will smooth out within a couple years and everyone will know what everything costs, including the patient. If a procedure costs $5000 in California, but only $1000 in Chicago, something is wrong. The people working with the data base are the ones to investigate why and report back to the medical group. I don’t think there should be standard costs for specific things, but as we gain experience there should only be guidelines. People are all different and must be treated different. If a set charge is established, this will prevent the physician to always use their judgment for that patient. If not, there will never be improvements or learning from honest mistakes. Our goal is to always reduce the cost without creating an unacceptable situation. Nobody should get rich from health care, but these same people need to be fairly compensated for their efforts. They must enjoy what they have chosen as their life work.
A persons time is worth something and everyone has a value of $/hr. A piece of equipment or building or operating room has an hourly rate for its use, an operating room has an hourly rate. A building or office has an operating OH. All these are real numbers. This new plan uses these numbers and not the numbers our present system uses, which I feel does not make sense. How can I understand my bill if it always has an adjustment? I hope my plan brings common sense to this complex monster.
Benefits:
The health care costs will be paid a little at a time, while people are healthy and while they are spending their money. When they get sick and need medical care, their medical bills are already paid. The government will eliminate a lot of the entitlement programs we couldn't afford, because they are no longer needed. The taxes now used for health care can be eliminated. Medicare and Medicaid can also be eliminated along with its debt to the people. Everyone will now be covered equally.
All employers will be relieved of the responsibilities of paying for health insurance. This includes GM, FORD, CHRYSLER and every other employer of people, including our own government. Schools, cities, military will all have money now to do what they need to do without raising taxes. Small businesses with new ideas can grow and big businesses can start competing with the world market on a level playing field again. Since the tax payers were paying all the health care costs anyway, just eliminating all the waste, will as a whole, pay less. Those with the most money will pay more because they spend more. We all pay our fair share.
With the records always available to the patient, they will see exactly what is happening to them, including what it is costing us, the tax payer. Knowing the real costs, the people will be the watchdog for these charges, because people talk to each other and always compare notes. If there is a problem, it will be known and the facts are there. The patient knows what they are getting for the money they are paying. Geisingers’s System looks like this is possible.
If social security were to use the same process by eliminating the Trust Fund and start their own fund, the same as this health care system, their problems could also be solved. In fact, they should tax the wage earner from dollar one on up, as long as money is being earned. The tax rate could be reduced and adjusted every year to control costs. About $45 Trillion of the total national debt can be eliminated immediately which includes Medicare and Medicaid. Businesses can employ more people; reduce work hours to allow people more time to spend money. People can work closer to home, travel less and enjoy their work, instead of working just for the benefits large companies provide. Unions would have less demands for the employers to deal with.
All our children, veterans, homeless, American Indians, seniors and government employees will have the best health care available, FREE, when they need it.
Retirees will again enjoy retirement and start volunteering; giving back to the next generation all the experience they have learned to help them do the same when they retire. Because I have the interest and time today I am able to do what I just did.
It has been said many times that our Health Care System is broken and is beyond repair. The 2008 Presidential Candidates all said our health care system should be as good as what they have in Washington. Checking this out it appears the only difference is someone else pays for it. It was also said that the wealthy are getting wealthier and the poor are getting poorer. More middle class people are going onto the poor end of the economic scale than the wealthy end. It has also been said that our present system is so complex and full of waste that to try and repair it, is impossible.
This plan offers a whole new approach that uses these premises:
1. Everyone must be covered equally.
2. Everyone must pay their fair share.
3. The system must be affordable and sustainable forever.
4. The Medical Profession must be in charge of medical decisions.
5. The Federal Government must provide the funding through taxes from ALL THE PEOPLE.
6. The system must be simple, flexible and manageable.
7. The costs must be transparent.
8. This system must be able to insure that all changes in the health care system will result in reducing overall costs.
This looks like a WIN WIN PLAN.
WHY NOT?
Don Zwiers, Joliet, Illinois
Uhcplan09@sbcglobal.net
PS This idea has been sent to:
Senator Obama
President Obama
VP Biden
David Axelrod
Timothy Geithner
Rahm Emanuel
Melody Barnes
Peter Orszag
Senator Durbin
Senator Burris
Congresswoman Halvorson
Congressman Jackson Jr
“ Conrad
“ Coburn
“ Kennedy
“ Schumer
Secty Kathleen Sebelius
AARP
CNN
Chicago Tribune
Washington Post
USA Today
NY Times
Plus many more, with no reply, other than a standard form letter. I know that if you got this far into reading this I have a chance to get an honest reply. I need to know WHY NOT? Its our grandchildren we are talking about, not us.
posted by Universal Health Care by Don Z @ 8:34 AM
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