If the government is going to get into health care, They should just open up the VA hospitals for all medicare, unemployed, veterans, and others that government is already paying for and leave the private hospitals alone.
I have health insurance I am happy with.

david,
you certainly do have a lot of very thought out ideas, and a place to be heard. all of us can use that. but i would ask you to consider the two comments above re: h.r. 676 for healthcare. alan greenspan said it himself when she told congress that his only miscalculation was that he thought the corporations would actually be responsible and do the right thing.

have you noticed how gasoline prices have climbed again over the past two weeks? greed has no bounderies. your life and health, or more money is the question. publically owned insurance companies must, by law, make as much money for their investors as possible. the only way they can do that is by turning down medical procedures. more money or your life? unfortunately, the answer the corporations choose is "MORE MONEY!" now, if you think you have a way to end greed, let me know.

for whom the bells tolls

I would like to share my ideas regarding national health care with you and your staff.

I believe that someone such as the Surgeon General should determine what a basic health plan (driven by public health care policies) should be. Once such a basic plan is determined all health insurance companies will be required to provide the provisions of such plan to any United States citizen. Insurance companies would be allowed to charge whatever price they determined is equitable but they would have to charge all of their customers the same price, though each company would differ in price. Everyone would be required to buy the basic plan before buying optional health insurance. Along with this basic policy for everyone the paperwork would be standardized across all insurance companies, hospitals and health care providers.

Since the insurance company has to charge each one of its customers the same price they can advertise the price on radio, television, print advertising creating a competitive market. Since the basic plan is the same, consumers will be able to compare the base rate and optional coverage easier. This would eliminate insurance companies from refusing people for insurance for the basic plan. However, insurance companies could charge accordingly and set their own guidelines for optional insurance. Also government can help the poor with their premiums.

Thank you for taking the time to consider this most important one of my ideas and I have many more to share with you if you want to hear them.

Sincerely,
David J. McDonell
debdaveandpets@gmail.com
906-932-0639

Here are some ideas on taxes.

Have a resource tax, God put resources on earth for everyone not just the rich, people should keep the wealth from there labor mind and body, but not from the resources they own, that wealth can be used to run the government and any wealth left over return to the people, and only let them keep some of it if they give good jobs to Americans and make the environment cleaner. You can give tax credits for each American they hire at a minimum yearly salary with health care benefits also give tax credits for improving the environment and tax them more if they degrade the environment. A resource tax and the income tax I think are the only moral taxes I would get rid of all other taxes. A resource tax is like the property tax but it will not tax you on your labor and can be applied to more things. Labor would only be tax by the income tax. I would give all Americans a basic income allowance that is not taxed then set a poverty level any income below that also not taxed then a flat tax on any income above it and then a surtax on incomes over $250,000.00 base on unemployment, the higher the unemployment the higher the surtax, after all it is the rich that hires and fires people, and if they hire enough Americans at a good yearly income and keep the environment clean I would not care if they paid no taxes, but if they send all the jobs out of the country and ruin the environment I say tax them at 100%.

The following I saw on C-SPAN book tv that I think is another very good idea.

Robert Zubrin argues that the United States is subsidizing a war against itself because of its dependence on oil, a resource controlled by its enemies. He says that if Congress passed a law requiring all new cars sold in the United States to be flexible fueled, OPEC's control on the world's transportation fuel supply would be diminished.

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez says he wants to send oil to $200 a barrel. Robert Zubrin has a plan to stop him. In his just released book, Energy Victory: Winning the War on Terror by Breaking Free of Oil, Zubrin, an American aerospace engineer known previously primarily for his inventive approach to Mars exploration, lays out the strategy.

To say the book is remarkable would be a severe understatement. Combining soaring idealism, incisive thinking, and a viscous go-for-throat killer instinct in a single package, Energy Victory is the first book I have ever read that actually lays out a credible plan to turn around the world energy situation.

In this compelling argument for a new direction in US energy policy, world-renowned engineer and best-selling author Robert Zubrin lays out a bold plan for breaking the economic stranglehold that the OPEC oil cartel has on our country and the world. Zubrin presents persuasive evidence that our decades-long relationship with OPEC has resulted in the looting of our economy, the corruption of our political system, and now the funding and protection of terrorist regimes and movements that are committed to our destruction. Debunking the false solutions and myths that have deterred us from taking necessary action, Zubrin exposes the fakery that has allowed many politicians — including current US president George W. Bush — to posture that they are acting to resolve this problem while actually doing nothing significant toward that goal.

Zubrin's plan is straightforward and practical. He argues that if Congress passed a law requiring that all new cars sold in the USA be flex-fueled — that is, able to run on any combination of gasoline or alcohol fuels — this one action would destroy the monopoly that the oil cartel has maintained on the globe's transportation fuel supply, opening it up to competition from alcohol fuels produced by farmers worldwide. According to Zubrin's estimates, within three years of enactment, such a regulation would put 50 million cars on the road in the USA capable of running on high-alcohol fuels, and at least an equal number overseas.

Energy Victory shows how we could be using fuel dollars that are now being sent to countries with ties to terrorism to help farmers here and abroad, boosting our own economy and funding world development. Furthermore, by switching to alcohol fuels, which pollute less than gasoline and are made from plants that draw carbon dioxide from the air, this plan will facilitate the worldwide economic growth required to eliminate global poverty without the fear of greenhouse warming. Energy Victory offers an exciting vision for a dynamic, new energy policy, which will go a long way toward safeguarding homeland security in the future and provide solutions for global warming and Third World development.

I want to share ideas with the Obama staff please call me. I have many ideas I want Obama to hear. He, or anyone that can pass on ideas to Obama, or anyone that can help put these ideas in action and also improve them please call me.

I am 52 and dyslexic, I am in the lower 5% in spelling and lower 15% in grammar and therefore a poor writer, also a very slow but excellent reader, also have a bad back can lift 30 lbs. only, but I have an IQ of 130 and was told I was an extremely gifted visual-spatial learner, was one of three high school students in the city of Duluth, MN to receive the 3M Creativity Award in 1975 for outstanding creativity in science, also have very excellent mechanical skills and design abilities, had many jobs but never had a job that used my best skills that also did not need good writing that I do not have. I have a Secondary Education Associate of Arts and also a Natural Resources Associate of Science from Gogebic Community College, Ironwood, MI. I want a job that uses my skills in visual-spatial, creativity, mechanical, and design abilities and does not need writing because it takes me way to long to write anything half way good. Willing to volunteer for a good cause. Give me a chance to prove myself.

DAVID J. McDONELL
E5273 Airport Road
Ironwood, MI 49938
(906) 364-0871 (cell)
(906) 932-0639 (home)
debdaveandpets@gmail.com

I email the above to theObama web site, I would like him to hear some of my ideas that would help the U.S.A., but getting heard is hard, have some one call me and let me talk to someone I do have a lot of ideas, many people say I have one of the best world view they know, give me a chance to be heard. Please contact me.

Yes i agree with the previous comment,any health plan mediated by the market, and allowing for competitive prices between private and state prices sets multiple contradictions into motion. Primarily back-door deals between HMO's to off set the market price. HR-676 is the best option.

Mandated for-profit insurance is corruption. Please look into H.R. 676 which would ensure health care availability and choice to everyone, while saving billions of dollars by cutting out the profits of the middle men.