Again I disagree with you VK on your original premise. There are lots of good ideas out there. And very few of them are in the current proposed bill. Retiredguy, we think much the same way. As to a plan that would improve the current system, move forward one step at a time. It may take 5 or 10 years to get there, but at least when we get there, what we have will work and work well.

1. Do no harm
2. ALL LEGAL US citizens will utilize the same plan including our elected officials.
3. Fix Medicare for the long term
4. Fix Social Security for the long term
5. Resolve tort reform and determine viable caps
6. Create an insurance pool for malpractice insurance to lower cost and eliminate unnecessary testing to CYA.
7. Provide government funded coverage for any annual medical cost that hits someone with over $1 million. With this all private insurance has a maximum exposure so cost will be lowered.
8. Lower Medicare age requirement by 2 years every year for the next 10 years to cover ALL LEGAL US citizens over 45. With this, Insurance cost will drop because the average health of a person under 45 is significantly lower risk then those over 45.
9. Incentives for students going to medical school to become doctors, nurses, and our health care professionals. Probably something like a reverse mortgage for a student loan payment plan. Open to good ideas on this one.
10. MONITOR all these first 9 steps to verify cost, effectiveness, and make necessary adjustments to resolve problems.

This plan will cost around 21% of the current proposed plan and provide a much better solution for most Americans. It does not cover Illegal people in this country. Illegal is Illegal and should be treated as such. It does help small business as it provides for lower insurance cost and makes private insurance more affordable. It moves us in the direction of providing health care for more and reduces the number of people not covered. I am sure my ideas are not the best and a team of smart people who better know all the issues could improve them. However my ideas are miles ahead of those currently proposed by those in Washington.