Unpaid, unnoticed, and thus far mostly unappreciated, 19 Maine citizens have been toiling under a tight schedule to devise a universal, single-payer health care plan. If they succeed, and if the Legislature acts on their model, Maine could lead the nation in adopting a plan that would replace the present profit-driven, insurance-monitored system that leaves many uncovered and burdens and individuals with constantly escalating costs.

Canada’s basic single-payer system, flawed and underfunded but generally popular there, began as a one-province experiment in Saskatchewan. If all goes well here, Maine could likewise eventually be leading the way in the United States. Maine already is on the map as a leader in the field. Portland voters last fall, in a non-binding vote, approved a universal, single-payer plan for the state, despite a $400,000 campaign to defeat the measure.

Fourteen of the 19 members of Maine’s Health Care System and Health Security Board spent four hours this week figuring how to meet a Dec. 1 deadline and polishing a request for proposals that will invite consulting firms to compete for the huge task of drafting a Maine plan. They scheduled future meetings every two weeks to answer questions, decide on a contractor and present the proposed plan to the Legislature and the Maine public.

Creation of the board came as a compromise on a bill last year by Rep. Paul Volenik, D-Brooklin, to establish such a plan. Instead of acting on the bill, the Legislature ordered a study. It set up the board, including representatives of both houses and both parties, other state officials and various affected organizations.

The board is doing the best it can with the bad hand it was dealt. The Legislature appropriated a measly $11,000 for an enormous job that could cost well into six figures and left it up to the board to raise the money. It set a deadline of March 1, since extended to Dec. 1. Reasonably enough, it specified that the plan must serve all citizens of the state and guarantee

a minimum 5 percent savings over existing health care costs.

To meet the schedule, the board set the dates of May 10 for release of the request for proposals, May 24 for acceptance of written questions from potential bidders, May 31 for its response to the questions, June 14 for submission of proposals, and July 22 for awarding a contract.

Various pending requests for grants could bear fruit in mid-July, but the board has no idea whether it will get hundreds of thousands of dollars or nothing at all. But if the job costs, say $200,000, that is peanuts compared with the millions that have been raised lately for various cultural projects around here. Raising the money from business firms that will benefit from cost savings or from public-minded individual citizens should be relatively easy.

Rep. Volenik, co-chairman of the board, supports a more limited pending proposal by Maine House Speaker Michael V. Saxl, D-Portland, to provide group health care insurance to small businesses and self-insured individuals. Mr. Volenik says the Saxl plan could open the way for the broader single-payer plan by arranging waivers to obtain federal funding.

So the board goes ahead with its ambitious task. Putting together an adequate plan may take far more than the 120 days it is allowing. The deadline may have to be extended again. But as the present health care system nears the breaking point, planning a drastic reform is well worth the effort.