I have a friend who - along with about 10-20 other people - started a bank 2 years ago. One afternoon I found myself in the office talking to him about what that venture looked like. Having been around startups my entire life, I have an understanding of starting a business. But a bank? That's a completley different story. So naturally I was quite curious.

The brief conversation included some points on banking regulation and the FDIC. I knew what the FDIC was before this conversation, but hadn't really given it much thought (probably like most Americans). Then we had the banking crisis of 2008 - exactly one year ago from today.

Anybody who had any kind of money at all quickly became familiar with the FDIC guarantee.

Amidst all the collapse in our economy - 401(k)s taking huge hits, hedge fund manager corruption, banking scandal after banking scandal, and finally a ridiculous, non-capitalistic, yet necessary bail out - the one thing that worked EXACTLY the way it should was the FDIC.

Most Americans had every confidence in the world that their money (assuming less than $250,000) was safe, protected and backed by the Federal Government. And you know what. It was. Even as IndyMac failed, and Washington Mutual and Wachovia and JP Morgan all collapsed, there wasn't chaos because the FDIC was there and functioning.

What does this have to do with healthcare?

This past weekend Allen pulled the comparison that we don't need the government running a healthcare company because what we would have is the United States Postal Service. And frankly, if you want something delivered guaranteed and to actually not be a drain on taxpayers, you and I both know UPS is the way to go. Rather, he focused on three things that should be changed.

1. Fat People - obesity killing healthcare costs
2. Old People - quoting that most healthcare costs are spent in the last couple months of life
3. Lawyers - Medical malpractice is a killer on doctor's insurance (which gets passed on to the patients) and also means tons of unnecessary tests (adding to the cost)

I think his analysis is fairly good. But it left me asking, ok, then what do you actually envision as the answer?

The answer to that question is the FDIC, only for healthcare.

We need regulation in healthcare.

The current situation right now is UPS only with two deepening caveats: with too little competition and a service we have to use.

The public option option is the USPS. It will surely go bankrupt, and ruin healthcare in the process.

The "FDIC" option is the route to go. Under it would include:

• Tort reform to curb malpractice costs.
• Regulation to allow for previous conditions to be covered.
• Allowing insurance companies to operate beyond state borders allowing for more competition but with minimal capital needs to start new operations.
• Holding insurance companies accountable to live up to what they promise to insure.
• A division to make sure the 10-20 million legitimately uninsured could be subsidized
• Requiring every citizen to have proof of health insurance (I know this isn't popular, but I am all for it).

But the actual insurance, and the hospitals, and the doctors, and the nurses are still all private companies. The regulation is there. The accountability is there. The improved healthcare for all would follow.