R.I.P: Healthy Kids.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Perhaps Republican lawmakers were right to reject a tobacco-tax increase that would have extended health coverage to all Oregon children.

Perhaps a tax on obstinacy, obstructionism and pointless partisanship would be better. If so, then the Republican members of the House who voted Friday to reject Gov. Ted Kulongoski's plan to pay for expanding children's health insurance programs by hiking the state's cigarette tax should be prepared to shell out some big bucks.

The Republicans insist they killed the proposal because of its reliance on a sharp increase in the cigarette tax - a revenue source they argue would diminish over time as more people quit smoking.

Even though they know better, GOP lawmakers insist there's already enough money in the state's general fund to pay for children's health insurance. Never mind that lawmakers from both parties are already gouging the bottom of the revenue barrel in an effort to come up with more money for the state's community colleges and universities, and to put more state troopers on the road.

The vote is a serious, but not necessarily fatal, setback to one of Kulongoski's highest legislative priorities. The governor's Healthy Kids Plan would have raised the cigarette tax 84.5 cents per pack to pay for state-subsidized health insurance for children in families with annual incomes of less than $62,000 for a family of four.

The proposal was a win-win from every perspective.

It would have resulted in fewer Oregonians smoking - 20,000, according to an estimate by the Legi- slative Revenue Office. Because tobacco-related diseases eventually claim the lives of up to one-half of all smokers, the tax increase would have saved the lives of up to 10,000 Oregonians.

Meanwhile, the tax would have increased state revenues enough to provide free or reduced-cost health insurance to every child in the state who needs it. That's an estimated 117,000 kids. The increased revenues also would have enabled the state to receive millions of dollars in matching federal funds.

And, oh yes, the increased insurance coverage and reduced rates of disease also would have lowered insurance costs for everyone in the long run. Even those of smokers.

There's still a slight possibility that the governor and Democratic leaders will return with a retooled children's health insurance plan this session, although it's hard to image where money can found for the program without raising taxes. There's also a possibility that the tobacco-tax increase could be referred to voters.

By defeating the governor's plan, Republicans are clinging to hopes that their "no new taxes and we mean it" strategy will appeal to voters and help them regain control of the Legislature in the next session.

But they should ask themselves how Oregonians will respond to the defeat of a plan that would have provided desperately needed support for children's health care, while at the same time reducing the number of smokers.

One thing's clear: If Republicans are serious about taking care of the thousands of Oregon kids who don't have health insurance, it's now their turn to explain how to do it.