What I sent you was totally my own idea. However, to be fair, it was based a lot on how things used to be before insurance got their greedy fingers into the pie. My idea is actually fairly simple and I'll try to summarize it for you. I woke up one morning and the plan I outlined to you came to me full-blown and I sat down and did an outline. I've been trying to get feedback on it for well over a month because I really thought I should send it in to some of our legislators. But friends to whom I sent it either didn't understand enough about insurance or the medical system to comment and others have been way slow due to complications in their own lives.

I'm scared shitless about what is going to pass. I am afraid it will 1. not address what needs to be addressed, 2. will be damned expensive, 3. force people and businesses into plans they neither can afford or need.

This whole thing has gotten so damn partisan, there is no way in hell it can really address the need in this country. I wish people could just sit down and discuss and come up with a plan.

As for mine, it's basically a system where the government issues discount cards to all the uninsured. I would not be eligible because I have health insurance but if I lost my job, I would become eligible.

Medical offices (doctors, etc.) would post their base price list in their offices and on-line so that people would know what they charge (non-insurance rates). Then the person with the card would come see the doctor and they would swipe the card which gives the discount %. They can't cheat because the non-discounted prices are posted. All participants would get the same discount, problaby around 60%-65%. 75% is about what Medicare pays. So the doctor is making a profit, the person is getting his/her care at a reasonable price and the doctor does NOT have to file paperwork. They keep a record on-line of the patient info, diagnosis, treatment, date of visit, price charged, just basic info they have to keep anyway. It goes nowhere but the government can access the records if needed (privacy issues would be addressed).

If a person is poor or at or below poverty level, their discount would go anwhere from 75% to 100% depending on their income level (the only paperwork filed would be on the patient's discount card application where they give tax returns as proof of income). Any discount over 75% would be compensated by the Federal government from a pool they set up. Minimal paperwork to claim and minimal waiting time. Doesn't matter what the patient had done, it's a straight across the board discount and the government makes up the difference. And it's paid at time of service.

Those are the basics. My outline gives more detail.

Surgery, etc. would be covered under a Major Medical plan where people would have deductibles. The higher the deductible, the cheaper the plan. All uninsured would have to sign up to create a pool where the insurance pool (made up of major insurers) would find an acceptable profit margin. No denials of coverage, no pre-existing condition denials, etc. Again, the government covers the cost for the lower incomes.

The whole thing is to keep paperwork at a minimum and bureaucracy out of the loop as much as possible. Part of why health care has risen astronomically is all the damned paperwork. Doctors have to hire two people just to file the damned insurance, deal withe the SOB insurance companies, etc.

Another part of my plan--If the doctor says a treatment is needed, no argument. The doctor calls the shots. If on Maj Med, the insurer has a problem or disagrees, they can request a second opinion but not from any doctor on their payroll. There would be a pool of second opinion docs from which a patient could choose.

That's a synopsis of what I think might work. But I wanted it vetted, holes poked in it, etc. to refine it a bit more before sending it. I'm afraid it may be getting just almost too late now but what the hell, when this shit they're doing fails, maybe we should have a plan waiting in the anteroom, not a Democrat or Republican plan, a plan that addresses the weaknesses in our current system. Currently, if you go to a doc without insurance, there is no discount; you're going to pay through the duodenum.

I haven't proofed this because it's time for bed so I'll check for errors tomorrow.