Kids and Health Care: Rational Choices -- and Obligations

For some people, adequate health care has become unaffordable. However, many of those who claim that health insurance is unaffordable really mean that they elect not to spend their money on health insurance because they do not consider it a reasonable spending choice -- not necessarily that they don't have the money to pay for health care.

This can be a rational decision, especially if you are young and in good health. But it's not a rational decision if you have children.

The ranks of uninsured children are growing faster than rational decision-making would seem to support, though. In 2003, more than 46 million people -- almost one in five non-elderly Americans -- had no health insurance.

If Congress addresses the problem, it will probably take only a few small steps: make health insurance fully tax-deductible for the self-employed or set up a system that lets private organizations (like religious groups and labor unions) negotiate health insurance deals for members...as employers do now.

But political action may not be the answer. And that's probably a good thing. Politics and medicine are an unstable combination.