Cruel and unusual punishment is how someone once described employerbased health care. Citing the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution to protest our health care system might seem dramatic to some, but not to the millions who have lost their ability, and therefore their right, to be protected from a different type of enemy.

Although it may not be necessary to amend our Constitution to give us the right to health care, we as Americans must demand the right to affordable, quality and accessible health care.

The Obama administration is bullying its way and bulldozing a path toward some type of universal health care program despite the fear and protests of the majority of Americans.

Paradoxically, the majority of Americans are calling for some type of solution to the current employer based system that looks upon the unemployed, the disabled and the self-employed like an untreatable disease.

How is it that if you are employed by a major corporation of 300 you have access to group coverage, but as an American we cannot fall under an umbrella of coverage for 300 million people?

My solution calls for adopting a universal umbrella for catastrophic coverage for everyone. This would ensure that every American would not be denied access to the best care in any institution despite their age, occupation, race or income.

For most Americans, the threat is not some North Korean missile, but the dreaded call from your doctor that you have cancer or heart disease and your insurance does not cover the treatment or that you have to use some HMO-type system in which the surgeon has no experience in this type of care.

Statistics show that most people never use the catastrophic part of their coverage but are paying huge premiums just to cover the basic cost of health care. The main difference between what I am advocating and President Obama is that this catastrophic coverage would not be a government-run plan, but simply a reimbursement to the insured for ruinous health care costs.

It would be the same as a state asking for federal disaster aid in extreme emergencies. It also would be a compromise between the Democratic plan that would involve a government takeover of our health care and the Republican plan which has disconnected us from life support.

The second leg of coverage would be the implementation of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) for every American.

HSAs are the IRAs of health care. The individual would be responsible for the first $5,000 of health costs, and since the employer would be out of the business of health care, they could use the savings to fund the HSA accounts until they become self-sufficient.

Also, by allowing consumers to cross state lines to purchase insurance, which is currently not allowed, and making the consumer partly responsible for maintaining their health care via the HSA, insurance premiums should be affordable.

If the insurance industry does not respond accordingly, then the government should be allowed to compete with the private industry. For the uninsured or unemployed, a tax credit will be needed to initially fund the HSAs, but it will be far less expensive than a government-run plan that has no guarantees of access, affordability or quality.

But in the current economic crisis, if employees had HSAs, millions would still be able to have and afford coverage during the economic recovery.

Obviously there is much more depth to my plan than a few paragraphs allow, but this allows private competition among insurers, keeps the government out of our doctor's office, and allows consumer choice and the right and freedom to choose when and where we will seek our health care.

The alternative is too expensive and too frightening to even consider.

Joseph Mercurio is a resident of Freehold Township.