Bennett and Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, have come up with the proposal that is the most radical departure from the status quo because it blows up the link between a job and health insurance. It would largely replace employer-provided health insurance with a requirement that individuals buy their own private coverage, and it would give employees rather than employers the tax benefit.

As we noted yesterday, we believe that of the three health-care proposals put forward by the presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton's makes the most sense, partly because it mandates universal care.

But while HillaryCare seeks to cover uninsured Americans by filling gaps in the existing system, the Bennett/Wyden plan, called the Healthy Americans Act, seeks to fundamentally reshape the system itself. As Americans evaluate the alternatives, the Healthy Americans Act should be part of the discussion.

One reason why is that the Congressional Budget Office has given it a preliminary glance and concluded that it would pay for itself. Given the gross inefficiency of the current mess, that would be a major relief.

In addition to shifting the purchasing responsibility and the tax benefits from employer to employee, the Bennett/Wyden plan would create state-run purchasing pools and a system for the federal government to collect premiums and subsidize purchases through income-tax filings.

Employers that had provided health insurance as a benefit would be expected to "cash out" their workers, meaning that they would increase wages by the average contribution that employers had made to premiums. Employers that had not offered insurance would be assessed new taxes based on size and profitability, and the federal government would subsidize premiums for lower-income households.

By putting people in charge of their own health-care purchases and forcing insurance companies to compete on price, benefits, and quality, the Bennett/Wyden plan could provide choice and portability while containing costs.

That's what its sponsors are promising. It's worth a hard look.

Bennett and Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, have come up with the proposal that is the most radical departure from the status quo.