This little dose of reality might bring welcome relief from the fairy tales that now characterize Republican lawmakers' approach to the problem of the uninsured.

Last week, the Republican-controlled Senate unveiled a plan called "HealthNet" that attempts to solve the health-care crisis by setting up health clinics to serve the uninsured. The clinics would be funded by donations from businesses - which would get tax credits for their largesse - and be run by volunteer doctors and other health-care professionals. In exchange, those professionals could skip their ongoing education.

This let-them-eat-cake exercise is the Senate's answer to nearly 1 million uninsured people.

Which is like deciding that we're going to feed every hungry person in the state from donated canned goods, or clothe everyone in the state by establishing sewing circles. All deliver the same results: unnutritious, inconsistent fare, and, in the long run, a cure far worse than the disease.

This is the Senate's alternative to a House bill passed in March that would provide affordable health insurance to small businesses and the uninsured. Under the House bill, low-income people would get help paying for coverage. It would be funded by a tax on tobacco, and would draw on $39 million in federal funds every year.

The latest Senate version, which should really be called "Health Not," would leave those federal funds on the table.

Despite the value of the House bill, both House and Senate fall far short of the Governor's effort to reform health care. Five years ago, Rendell established the Office of Health Care Reform, which has spent those years wrestling with one of the more challenging problems facing the country. That's a problem that the Bush administration has failed to address, leaving it up to states like ours to step up.

Ours came up with a proposal to cover all Pennsylvanians, targeting the poor and low-wage workers who are uninsured.

Measuring that plan against the cobbled-together and inadequate response from the Senate is enough to make us sick. The tragedy is that Health Net is likely to have that real effect on too many real people. *