Children without health insurance cost all of us a lot. Hospitals absorb the cost of emergency room visits and hospitalizations. Taxpayers help foot the bill. Families spend time worrying about the next injury or illness. Children go without the preventive care they need.

As the medical director for Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital, and in my own practice, I’ve seen just how costly spotty health coverage for children can become.

Right here in Spokane, we’ve seen hospital systems struggle under the rising costs of charity care, threatening the foundation of the medical care we all rely on.

That’s why I can only be happy that the state is enrolling children so quickly and efficiently in the newly expanded children’s health insurance program. I know it will not only save money, it will save unneeded anguish for children and families in our area.

We need to remember that upfront investments in children’s health pay off in future savings. Our own senators, Lisa Brown and Chris Marr, understood this when they went into the legislative session this year. That’s why they helped pass the Cover All Kids bill (Senate Bill 5093).

With Gov. Chris Gregoire’s signature, this legislation pushed Washington to the forefront of states creating a healthier future by making sure all children have health coverage. The program is comprehensive – including dental and mental health coverage – and affordable, with coverage available on a sliding scale to middle-class families with no other reasonable options.

All families will be able to get the health insurance they need for their children. Families that struggle to find and pay for health coverage come in many different forms.

They are the middle-class families that have to pay $800 or more a month to insure the family through work – or the families that don’t have coverage through work at all and are making do with inadequate insurance. They are the low-income families that can’t get medical care for their children without help. And, they are the immigrant families who otherwise would have to use the emergency room for routine care.

The fact of the matter is that all children get sick.

As we make greater commitments to the health of our children, it’s important to remember that Washington state doesn’t pay for children’s health coverage alone. Tens of millions of dollars come from the federal government through Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

Congress is considering legislation to renew the SCHIP program, which covers children in low-income families. This highly successful federal program has cut the uninsurance rate among low-income children by a third. Now is the time to build on SCHIP’s success.

What’s more, a relic of a rule from when SCHIP was first created a decade ago means that Washington state doesn’t get all the federal help it should.

Everyone who cares about children’s health should urge Congress to update the SCHIP rules and invest more in the program.

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell and members of the state’s congressional delegation are leading efforts to improve the SCHIP program and need to know that Washingtonians support their work.

We’re on the right path. With the commitment to cover all kids, help from the federal government and the efficient enrollment of eligible children, we can make Washington state a healthier place for children to grow and thrive.