EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In our plan, the Health Care Magna Carta forms the foundation of a new American healthcare system to be fully implemented by 2013. The multifaceted strategy we advance is driven by several additional guiding principles. Most importantly, we believe that the federal government needs to treat the healthcare system as a public good, that high quality care needs to be promoted through free market incentives, that industry-wise investment in information technology will produce vastly more efficient health care delivery and outcomes, and that continual education of all healthcare participants is vital to the success and sustainability of the system.

In order to develop a sustainable health care system that equitably serves all participants, our society as a whole must realize the vital importance of such a system and thus reprioritize its resources to support it. We propose increasing public awareness as to the importance of a sustainable system, significant public education as to how to properly care for one's health, and devoting adequate resources to the system directly through progressive premiums and co-pays and indirectly through ear-marked healthcare taxation. Moreover, comprehensive re-structuring of the system combined with substantial technological investments will allow us to produce vastly more efficient, compassionate, and equitable health care delivery and outcomes.

The impetus for reforms begins with the federal government who must: 1) Create awareness of individual responsibility for health care system. 2) Develop a democratic healthcare council to implement reforms and set and monitor healthcare standards. 3) Deregulate benefit mandates. 4) Implement a flat healthcare tax while making premium payments 100% reimbursable. 5) Create a public insurance program for individuals who cannot obtain coverage from other sources and commit to serve the medical needs of the countries' poor and working poor. 6) Ensure that every American has access to full health care coverage using "checkpoints." 7) Provide incentives for employers and institutions to offer more coverage. 8) Promote generic drugs and effectively regulate pharmaceutical marketing practices. 9) Implement quality controls. 10) Continually educate.

Universal healthcare can be afforded by this country, but it is going to involve a collaborative effort among stakeholders. We show that sustainable financing of universal health can be achieved through a combination of contributions and reimbursement structures, as well as a careful look at inefficiencies and cost drivers. We purport that if employers provide more coverage, if schools, from kindergarten to Universities, provide more coverage, if the state and federal governments provide more coverage, and if individuals are enabled to provide more coverage for themselves, than universal health care coverage can be achieved. Rather than scratching an entire health care delivery system, a system that does work in many cases, we believe that it is more realistic and expedient to expand and improve the current system. This proposal considers, evaluates and incorporates a number of solutions but posit that not one, but through changes on many levels, can the current system radically evolve to provide truly equitable and sustainable health care coverage for every American.

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