RALEIGH - North Carolina's delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives recently split along party lines over President Bush's veto of the expanded State Children's Health Insurance Program called SCHIP, and the veto was upheld.

Gov. Mike Easley, a strong supporter of the expansion, had estimated that with the additional federal money, over 90,000 currently uninsured children in North Carolina would be able to get comprehensive health insurance.

One reason given by those who voted against the child health expansion was their opposition to the role of government in delivering health care. In the U.S. Senate, North Carolina's Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr justified their votes against it by calling SCHIP a "government-run health program" that would "add nearly 6 million children to the public dole."

Rep. Virginia Foxx decried the focus on "expensive new government programs" to explain her opposition to the measure, and Rep. Howard Coble derisively referred to an expanded SCHIP as "another entitlement program."

While the theme of distrust of government support for and involvement in health care has been a staple of opposition to SCHIP around the country, reliance on such a reason is more than a little puzzling, coming from members of Congress.

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NORTH CAROLINA'S 13 U.S. REPRESENTATIVES AND TWO U.S. SENATORS have access to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, containing some of the best and most comprehensive health-care plans in the nation. They pay premiums, but the federal government (read taxpayers) subsidizes 72 percent to 75 percent of the cost of their health plans.

An example of an older senator's premium for both him and his wife: $290 a month.

Subsidize health coverage at that level for ordinary citizens in North Carolina who can't get coverage through their jobs and the vast majority of North Carolina's 1.3 million uninsured people could afford to buy coverage.

And government-provided and government-subsidized health coverage for members of Congress doesn't stop there. In the Capitol, there is a physician's office with 13 top doctors and other health professionals ready to serve the needs of any member. This is a luxury not available to most North Carolinians -- even those lucky enough to have affordable health insurance at work.

The final jewel in the congressional medical crown? The National Naval Medical Center, with a taxpayer-funded, government-run Executive Clinic where "[w]orld-class care is delivered to the nation's leaders -- members of the Executive Branch, the U.S. Congress, Supreme Court justices, flag and general officers of the armed services, and eligible family members."

Obviously, what's good for those at the top of the heap in Washington isn't what those members who voted against SCHIP think is good for uninsured children in North Carolina.

Perhaps eliminating the taxpayer-funded federal health-care subsidy for members of Congress would inject a little reality into this debate. Members would still be able to purchase health coverage, but paying full freight might bring home for some the frighteningly high costs many North Carolina families face.

Don't wait long for this proposal, though. Government-run, government-subsidized health programs that serve those in Congress likely have universal support from those who benefit most.

(Adam Searing is project director of the N.C. Justice Center's Health Access Coalition.)