premium for health insurance? The prevailing mood of the electorate in the United States and many of the candidates seems to be shifting toward adopting a national health care system. I do not support this idea since I believe that there are better ways to accomplish our goals of achieving universal coverage without turning this country into a second-rate European-style socialist "prison grid"--where individual rights get trampled by expediant collectivism.

The IRS can teach us something. For decades the IRS collected data on health care spending and came up with a figure of 7.5 % of adjusted gross income as representative of the average amount per household. That percentage was then established as the non-deductible floor. Overlooking the patent unfairness of this development, we can all see the solution to the health care crisis staring us in the face: set a maximum premium limit to be 7.5% of AGI, with wealthier people paying at the same rate but paying far more money. Our current system in effect . .
subsidizes the rich while penalizing the poor in the sense that poor people pay far too high a percentage of their incomes for medical care while wealthy people pay only a tiny fraction of their incomes.

Today, this is exactly the way we fund Medicare----through a payroll tax that does not cut off as incomes rise. While we don't need another "Medicare" in this country, legislative action can impose these premium limits on private insurers.

Your thoughts and comments, please?

Ah, first SS/medicare does have an income limit.

It does not tax income over $94,200 .

You cannot just arbitrarily set a 7.5% number.

What if that wasn't enough to pay for the services rendered?