Financing universal health care coverage for America's children

The Clinton administration is about to engage in finding a solution to the much-heralded bankruptcy of Medicare. Still, it is appropriate to consider that millions of this nation's children lack health insurance. A plan to provide such coverage through universal insurance would cover a set of defined benefits and be means tested at the upper end of incomes. It would create a rational replacement for a hodgepodge of entitlement programs based on actuarially sound principles. It would derive funds from current Medicaid allocations and private employer contributions for minor dependents.