Here are my suggested political platforms for federal and state legislative candidates:

***FEDERAL***

EMTALA

EMTALA care provision responsibility would be limited to one episode per patient in any 365 day period excluding paid-up previous visits, with a limit waiver to be at least $200 in cash or its equivalent.

EMTALA care uniformly billed at no more than 300% of Medicare amounts, including interest and late and other charges, could be collected in the manner of federal student loan debt.

PPACA SUBSIDY CAPS

PPACA subsidies would be limited to no more than 90% of policy cost instead of the 98% now. It is absurd that Mr. Recipient Democrat might pay $14/month for the same type policy that Mrs. Healthy Republican might pay $700/month for.

REFUNDABLE TAX CREDITS

To cut back on fraud, refundable tax credits for individuals would not be refunded except for PPACA premium and federal student loan payment.

DRUG APPROVAL

Drugs approved by the European Union/Health Canada would be deemed eligible for import, sale and use in the USA six/eighteen months after such approval unless Congress acts otherwise.

NEW DRUG PLANS

Federal PPACA exchanges would offer Interstate Class Drug Plans,
exempt from state control, that to be fully federally subsidy eligible must cover at least:
1. 80% of all recombinant drugs by key active entity
(or 100% less the percentages held by the top three domestic rights holders by percentage),
2. 80% of all FDA breakthrough drugs by key active entity
(or 100% less the percentages held by the top three domestic rights holders by percentage),
3. 80% of all drugs covered by a key active entity patent
(or 100% less the percentages held by the top three domestic rights holders by percentage),
4. 90% of all WHO “essential” drugs

Any percentage shortfalls would result in twice the percentage reduction in the federal subsidy amount and must have the word ‘Substandard’ in the drug plan name to be at all federal subsidy eligible.

This system would allow for genuine negotiation between drug plans and drug companies. Drug plans would have an incentive to try to buy drugs from drug companies and drug companies would have an incentive to make deals to make sales.

All drugs would be supplied at on an all-the doctors prescribe basis. The co-pays would be roughly equal to mere manufacturing cost.

The baseline federal drug subsidy would be the average policy holder age (as of the beginning of the policy period) divided by 3 taken as a percent of PPACA baseline subsidy amount for the PPACA household.

EXAMPLE A: For a PPACA household with a 34-year-old, a 36-year-old, and a two-year-old, the baseline federal drug subsidy would be 8% ((34+36+2)/(3*3))% of the PPACA household’s baseline subsidy amount.

EXAMPLE B: For a single PPACA policy of age 60, the baseline federal drug subsidy would be 20% (60/3)% of the PPACA household’s baseline subsidy amount.

A&B Medical Service Plans

A&B Medical Service Plans would have the same medical service coverage as Medicare Parts A & B. They would not have built-in drug coverage that Medicare Part B currently has. They would be PPACA subsidy eligible up to the PPACA baseline subsidy amount for the PPACA household less the household’s federal drug subsidy.

A&B Medical Service Plan coverage providers would have to continue to offer PPACA coverage plans unless the provider’s PPACA plan(s) would have less than 10,000 subscribers in total.

A&B Medical Service Plans would have to keep their funds in federally regulated financial institutions.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Sewer line funding would be provided to the states shortly after December 1st in two upcoming fiscal years in the amount of .5% of penultimate calendar federal individual income tax revenue received from the state.

Affordable housing building land access road funding would be provided to the states shortly after December 1st in two upcoming fiscal years in the amount of .5% of penultimate calendar federal individual income tax revenue received from the state.

The roads would:
1. start close as prudence suggests to an employment center,
2. have other access points only at areas where a state-set amount of land has been purchased by the state for affordable housing development and shall end at a point where at least 3000 acres of land has been purchased by the state for affordable housing development,
3. be access limited to mass transit and public safety vehicles to help ensure the housing built on the affordable housing land remains affordable and less desirable for affluent people.

Affordable housing access road supplemental funding would be provided to the states shortly after December 1st in two upcoming fiscal years in the amount of .5% of penultimate calendar federal individual income tax revenue received from the state for the construction of roads and schools within such affordable housing developments.

HOUSING SIZE LIMITATION

No construction element suited for interstate commerce would be obtainable to build or expand a housing unit beyond 1100 square feet per unit plus 1800 square feet per acre of land uniquely allocated for computational purposes from either the housing unit’s parcel or subdivision.

NOTE: Limiting the size of housing units will make housing units more affordable. In Florida, large, expensive ‘villas’ are being built on high-zoning density land that would have been used for garden apartments in the 1960s and 1970s.

EXAMPLE CALCULATIONS:

On land zoned for 12 units/acre, say land originally zoned for garden apartments, the average housing unit size would limited to no more than 1250 (1100+1800/12) square feet.

On land zoned for 36 units/acre, say land zoned for an urban apartment building, the average housing unit size would limited to no more than 1150 (1100+1800/36) square feet.

On land zoned for 4 units/acre, say land zoned for tract single-family detached houses, the average housing unit size would limited to no more than 1550 (1100+1800/4) square feet.

On land zoned for 1 unit/2 acres, say land zoned for estate houses, the average housing unit size would limited to no more than 4700 (1100+1800*2) square feet.

I know many people will object to this, but Americans need millions of starter homes. When the need for starter homes is met, the law can be repealed and people can have additions built.

PROPOSED PROPERTY TAX AMENDMENT

Residential property taxation shall be based upon the square root of the square footage of the enclosed finished living area of each housing unit rounded to an adjacent integral number. Existing homeowner tax cap protection shall be extended by limiting total tax increases to 3% a year by dollar amount.

By moving away from ad valorem taxation, governments will no longer have a strong financial incentive to make housing more costly.

FEDERAL STUDENT LOAN REFORM

All new money federal student loans would have to be co-signed by the school and doubly secured by value by the school’s real estate and exchange traded stocks.

No new money Parent Plus loans would be issued.

The total amount of federal/bankruptcy exempt money borrowed by a student would not be allowed to exceed:
1. $5000 in the first year of college,
2. $10000 in the second year of college,
3. $15000 in the third year of college in a program normally expected to take over two years to complete,
4. $20000 in the fourth year, when the student is on track to get a first undergraduate degree on time,
5. $40000 more for a first master's or physician assistant degree,
prorated by credit hours taken to the number needed for graduation,
6. $90000 more for a first degree suited for the independent practice of law,
prorated by credit hours taken to the number needed for graduation,
7. $150000 more for a first degree suited for the independent practice of medicine or dentistry with painkiller prescribing privileges, prorated by credit hours taken,
8. $5000 for other accredited education.

All such borrowing shall be under regulations meant to assure value for money to be set by the Secretary of Education.

NOTE: These amounts won’t pay for top schools, but top schools now have massive endowments. These top schools need to admit top students regardless of student ability to self-pay in order to maintain the reputations that enable further endowment receipt.

FEDERAL TEACHER EDUCATION SUPPORT

To increase the supply of possible teachers and to cut college student costs, the federal government would pay for students to take courses in classroom management, educational law, English as a Second Language instruction, child psychology and classroom internships so a large percentage of college graduates would be classroom ready.

CRIMINAL CHARGE LIMITATION

In federal prosecution practice, the charging document would have to certify that the person is not being charged with more charges than deserve a sentence meriting imprisonment exceeding the person’s life expectancy by IRS IRA distribution standards when one of those charges is excluded from sentencing time consideration.

NOTE: This would be to prevent a defendant such as Donald Trump from being overcharged, to prevent federal juries from getting confused by excessive evidence and charges, and to enable federal courts to provide speedy trials and swift justice.

DISCOVERY, DISPOSITION and INTERROGATORY FEES

Each party requesting discovery would have to pay to the producing party a fee of $100 for each distinctly different responsive document produced under the request and $200 for each computer-powered device or distinctly different storage media item responsively produced under the request, within 30 days after production, unless the requesting party is being charged with a crime in the case.

Each party conducting a disposition would have to pay to the deposed party a fee of $200 plus the deposed party’s reasonable attorney’s fees, within 30 days after disposition, unless the requesting party is being charged with a crime in the case.

Each party requesting an interrogatory would have to pay to the interrogated party a total fee of $500, within 30 days after proper response, unless the requesting party is being charged with a crime in the case.

The fees would not be reimbursable in any civil case.

JUDICIAL REFORMS

State and local governments would be given an annual opportunity to pick from the federal judges willing to serve their jurisdictions.

New federal judges below the Supreme Court level would be compensated on a fee-for-service basis. Congress would increase the fee minimums and maximums from time to time.

USURY

Federal law would not override a US state usury law when the related maximum rate of the related law exceeds the IRS interest rate by at least 500 basis points.

FEDERAL ELECTION SECURITY

In federal elections, all ballots would have marking that effectively ensures default ballot secrecy but also permits fraudulent ballot removal.

In mail-based elections, at the time of first ballot mail-out, distinct zip code-based markings would have to cover at least 20 but no more than 40 households/persons using a shared mailing address.

In optional mail-in elections, at the time of first ballot mail-out, distinct zip code-based markings would have to cover at least 50 but no more than 100 households/persons using a shared mailing address at the time of first ballot mail-out.

The basis of the distinct zip code markings would have to be public knowledge.

Ballots for registrations after the first ballot mail-out would have to bear the date of registration if before election day and of the hour of registration on election day instead of zip code-based marking.

In any election using the United States Postal System, each mailed out ballot would have to have been requested by the voter within the last 364 days.

The Federal Election Commission would have to be informed of all voting registration, death and citizenship renunciation information needed to verify federal election voter roll accuracy.

WARREN BUFFETT-STYLE SPENDING AMENDMENT

Federal elected officeholders and their direct relatives shall not be allowed to hold federal office beyond the end of the officeholder’s current term if any federal fiscal year deficit under the amendment exceeds $1 trillion.

INCOME TAX INDEXING

Income tax amounts shall not be indexed for inflation in a calendar year if its primary fiscal year ends in a deficit in excess of $600 billion.

STATION WAGONS

The import, manufacture, sale and leasing of station wagons would be allowed and their typical fuel consumption and CO2 emissions shall not be a concern of any domestic governing entity.

NATURAL GAS ELECTRICITY

The CO2 emissions of a natural gas powered electricity generating facility shall not be a concern of any domestic governing entity.

LAUNDRY DETERGENT

The detergent agents in retail containers shall be listed by their weight.

FOOD QUALITY

The Department of Agriculture shall recommend standards and means to measure the flavor quality of coffee, dry oregano, dry parsley, canned tomatoes, tomato paste and tomato sauces to Congress.

BEEF

The beef processing industry would be made more competitive to benefit consumers and ranchers.

WIC

Fruit juices would be removed from WIC eligibility.

Minimally processed chicken and pork would be added to WIC eligibility.

SNAP

Basic SNAP food eligibility would the same as WIC. Homeless persons would retain existing SNAP eligibility upon monthly request of a government-funded homeless service agency.

***STATE***

AFFORDABLE RESIDENTIAL HOUSING IN COMMERCIAL ZONING AREAS

Residential construction at 12 units per acre would be allowed on all commercial zoned land upon which a store may be operated. No more than one parking space per unit may be required on such land.

If such land abuts a road that has been served by public transit in each month of the last 12, residential construction at 24 units per acre would be allowed, with no parking space requirements.

STUDIO APARTMENT PROVISION

Apartments of less than 500 square feet would be considered 50% of a housing unit.

AFFORDABLE DENTISTRY

Two-year higher education programs and licensing options would be provided for:
1. basic dentistry: dental imaging, oral examination, extractions, cavity filling and crowns
2. implants
3. dentures
4. root canals

One-year higher education programs and licensing options would be provided for independent dental imaging, oral examination and dental hygiene for those persons with over $40000 in paid dental hygiene earned income.

AFFORDABLE LEGAL SERVICES

Final two-year higher education programs and licensing options would be provided for independent criminal defense law practice at some state universities.

HIGH SCHOOL TRADE EDUCATION

Instruction in the construction arts would be offered to high school students to prepare them for construction employment. Summer internships with programs like Habitat for Humanity would be offered to give high school students actual on-site construction experience.

ENHANCED HOSPITAL SERVICE COMPETITION

To reduce hospital costs, state law would be changed to allow:
1. large hospital complexes and systems to be split up
2. competitive hospitals to be built adjacent to existent hospitals
(if a building purchase request is refused)
3. independent surgical, imaging, lab and nursing care facilities to coordinate
to state law requirements to effectively function as hospitals

LOWER COST CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Accused persons would be given a court date, and for non-violent crimes the alternative choice of avoiding trial by serving time in a penalty time room. The arresting officer would set the number of penalty time hours based state guidelines. The magistrate may change the number of hours upon the request of the accused. To encourage serving time, the hours served in the first week would receive a 100% bonus, going down 20% by week. The penalty time room system would allow accused persons to maintain employment and would allow governments to avoid paying for defense counsel and jail room & board.

Non-violent crimes such as shoplifting might be punished by strapping substantial and visually obvious weights on convicted persons.

Criminal trials would normally start in the afternoon to allow most defendants to affordably hire defense counsel for merely one day.

CREDIT/DEBIT CARD BAIL

Persons accused only of non-violent crimes might be able to be bonded out by credit/debit card bail. The amounts would be set by the magistrate and might range from $100 to court costs plus alleged damage/theft amounts.

STATE LAW TAXATION

Recording taxes would be eliminated.

Taxation of capital equipment and inventory would be eliminated.

RECORDING FEES

The recording fee shall be the locally applicable minimum horly wage per page.

CHILD CUSTODY

Both parents would legally be considered as equally fit unless evidence is provided from a third party to the contrary.

Children aged 12 habitually attending regular schools would not normally be bound by a family court custody arrangement.

CHILD SUPPORT

The fundamental child support amount awarded to a primary custodial parent shall be:
1. half the amount to cover housing costs a single person would not normally pay, which might be:
a. when the divorce/separation was filed at least two months before a covered child entered full-time schooling,
half the difference between the HUD two-bedroom fair market rent and the area’s HUD one-bedroom fair market rent,
for each gender of covered child at birth,
b. when the divorce/separation was filed at least two months after a covered child entered full-time schooling,
half the cost difference between the family’s current home, in terms of rent or PITI, and the area’s HUD one-bedroom fair market rent,
2. half the SNAP maximum amount per child, for food, increased to 70% if the custodial person is habitually gainfully employed
3. half the amount necessary to buy health coverage for the children, calculated on a 30-day month basis if not paid monthly,
4. four percent of the non-custodial parent’s income on their most current federal income tax return, with shared income being rationally apportioned,
5. half of out-of-pocket child health care costs to the extent that they exceed 50% of the amounts promptly paid under (4) during the prior 12 months, payable as financially reasonable,
6. half of prudent family home repair costs to the extent that they exceed 50% of the amounts promptly paid under (4) during the prior 12 months, payable as financially reasonable.

The judicially determined child support amount awarded to a primary custodial parent need not be the fundamental child support amount, but all variations must be justified in writing by the judge.

When an increased child support amount change is justified, a reasonable notice period of at least 30 days shall normally be in effect unless specifically judicially waived.

The amount of the judicially determined child support in excess of the fundamental child support amount shall be repayable to the providing party as shall normally be judicially ordered when all covered children have reached 18 and can be primarily responsible for themselves.