Vermont Gov. James Douglas went to Washington on Tuesday, hat in hand, to plead with congressional leaders and Bush administration officials to not make cuts in health care spending.

The 10-year-old State Children's Health Insurance Program, which is due to expire at the end of this month, helps states such as Vermont pay for providing insurance to low-income families who aren't quite poor enough to qualify for Medicaid.

Congress wants to increase funding for the program by $35 billion to $50 billion over the next five years. The Bush administration wants just a $30 billion increase. Whatever figure is finally arrived at will determine whether Vermont will have enough money to pay for Catamount Health, the state's new health insurance program.

If Bush's proposal -- which doesn't include a rule change that would restrict eligibility for the program to children whose family's income is above 200 percent of the federal poverty level -- is enacted, more than 2,100 Vermont children will lose health care coverage and the state could lose nearly $4 million.

While Douglas has said that Vermont's programs can survive in the short term, he said that in the long run, the state can't afford cuts in federal funding and still keep its insurance programs functioning at the current level.

It's good that Douglas is willing to go to Washington to fight for health care funding. However, we'd like to suggest that he also devote some of his political capital to preserve Vermont's role as an innovator in health care policy.

Last week, Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., introduced the State's Right to Innovate in Health Care Act. The bill would provide federal money, as well as greater flexibility in spending that money, to five states. In return, they would try out programs providing for universal health care coverage.

Vermont is not guaranteed to be one of the five states, but Sanders is hopeful that Vermont could be. Under Sanders' proposal, at least one of the five states would institute a single-payer system.

That provision of Sanders' bill is not supported by the Douglas administration. Secretary of Administration Michael Smith said last week that Vermont would welcome additional money for Catamount, but that the discussion over single-payer health care is over in Vermont.

Sanders thinks otherwise. He believes that Catamount was a compromise, not an end point, for health care reform and that single-payer can work in Vermont or some other state willing to make the commitment.

It is abundantly clear that reforms to our nation's health care system are not going to come from Washington. The status quo -- a nation that spends more on health care than any other nation in the world, yet has nearly 50 million of its citizens without health insurance -- is profitable and that's all that matters.

The innovation is going to come from the states. Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts have all taken significant steps toward providing health care for everyone. These are significant steps that wouldn't have happened if they sat back and waited for Washington to come up with a plan.

Sanders' bill would encourage more creativity and more new ideas that might spread to other states. We think the Douglas administration needs to get behind this bill, so our governor won't have to keep going to Washington to beg for money.