The right to health is basic and elemental. The greatest country on the planet can surely afford to give subsistence medical care to all of it's citizens. My travels have demonstrated, again and again, that even poor nations do this.
Basic Medical Service - BMS, is provided by the government. The same way we allow the Post Office to 'compete' against UPS and Fedex and allow public schools to 'compete' against private schools; we let the government provide a basic alternative to medical insurance. They don't have to do it better, they just have to provide a basic service.
If you want normal medical care, you add coverage with private insurance. Most everyone will want this option, same as now. Companies can still offer extra medical coverage as a perk. And most will, same as now.
In the bargain we give a nod to insurance company concerns and give them the freedom they need to be more competitive (interstate etc). Also, make adjustments to reduce lawsuits (or swap them for cheaper arbitration). And we fix the cost of basic medical procedures which helps insurance companies and patients alike.
Funding: Like education or defense, this would not be fully funded. Obviously, there are economic and psychological gains when a country's citizens are better educated or don't have to worry about foreign invasion or basic medical care. If you require medical treatment and have elected to not be insured and you cannot afford to pay, you enter the program, get care, and pay some back each year. 10% is added to your tax bill until your government medical donation is recovered. If you don't earn enough to pay taxes, of course you don't pay the 10%. Chronic patients will not live to see a zero balance and that is fine. Your tab dies with you.
BMS will not pay for very expensive procedures or extraneous medications (unless your tax bracket justifies it).
Other ideas:
For these basic services only, hospital fees would be set (adjusted for inflation).
Nurses, interns and medical students could be called in to do procedures that doctors won't do at the lower rates.
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