President Bush proposed sending federal money to help the states that are coming up with innovative ways to cover the uninsured. States would be free to come up with their own plans --as Massachusetts, California, and others are doing as long as they met certain standards. Instead of new spending, the White House plan would take federal money now used for charity care at hospitals and redirect it to the state initiatives.

In an interview this week, Tommy Thompson, who served as Health and Human Services Secretary during Bush's first term, endorsed using the states as "laboratories" for health reform, saying Congress has lacked the political courage to tackle the problem.