Submitted by John E. Kraft, Jan 9, 2007 15:50

Thirty one years ago a liberal Democrat from Oregon introduced his universal health care plan while serving as a member of Congress. His name was Al Ullman and his legislation bore the nifty nickname of "Ameriplan". It divided all health care users into three categories. If you were wealthy enough to pay your own annual premium, that's what you would do. If you were too poor to do so, the government would pay your premium. Those in the middle would pay a cost-share precentage of their premium, based on their income. If you lost your job, government would pay the premium. If your income increased, so did your cost-share and if your income went down, your cost-share went down. No destruction of the insurance industry. No tampering with the health care delivery system. Though Al was a liberal, the American Medical Association and American Hospital Association endorsed his plan. Let's open that file drawer on Capitol Hill, dust off the paper and hold some hearings. It's an idea whose time has come!

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