It's About Time

A Dem steps into the leadership vacuum on health care.

Ill. Gov. Proposes Health Insurance Plan - Yahoo! News

By JOHN O'CONNOR, Associated Press Writer

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Gov. Rod Blagojevich is proposing to make Illinois the first state to offer health insurance coverage for all children, including 250,000 who now lack any such benefits.

Blagojevich planned to propose his "All Kids" program Thursday. The plan, which has the endorsement of Democratic legislative leaders, would target children in families that earn too little for private coverage but too much to qualify for existing state-funded programs.

The interesting question include, can he pull this off? How will this play politically? Net plus or net negative? Health care is a winning issue if Dems can have the courage of their convictions and put it front and center but complicated policy solutions and half measures like this are more problematic since there may not be enough politically significant winners to make the effort worthwhile. Children aren't the most powerful of electoral constituencies.