Suggestions for national health insurance: Covering everyone for less

The United States needs to establish individual and family health insurance premiums so that everyone is paying the same percentage of their income per dependent regardless of the source of that income. This percentage would be based on the national cost of health care as a percentage of the gross individual income (not taxable income). In other words, both people on welfare and those earning multi-millions per year would be paying some fair (emotional) share tax deductible premium.

The actual percentage would be slightly higher than the exact equivalent to cover prevention and nutrition education programs, as well as covering administrative costs and the cost of care for those without any income. Also, there would be a surcharge for those who choose to ignore medical advice and/or participate in risky behavior. This surcharge would be based on the rate of how that behavior affects overall cost of health care.

With everyone participating, there would be a reduction in the cost to businesses. There would also be the added benefit of not reducing the effectiveness of our current system of delivery - as everyone would have a vested interest in controlling costs. This would eliminate Medicare and Medicaid and take the cost of health care out of the national tax budget, giving us time to address the other problem with health care.

posted by david1945