Topeka ? Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has the backing of a key state agency for a proposal to expand state health insurance coverage for young children, but House Republican leaders are still resisting.

Sebelius unsuccessfully sought the expansion last year, hoping to ensure that all children, from birth through age 5, have coverage. This year, the Kansas Health Policy Authority is asking legislators to spend from $4 million to $6 million to make it happen.

But incoming House Speaker Melvin Neufeld, R-Ingalls, called the proposal the “wrong model.” And Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, the new chairwoman of the House Health and Human Services Committee, called the plan socialized health coverage.

“Sure, everyone wants to see a child with health insurance, but it’s at the expense of other people,” said Landwehr, expressing concern that the state would have to rob other programs of money to sustain the spending in future years.

Sebelius said repeatedly during her successful re-election campaign last year that tackling health care issues would be among her top priorities during the 2007 Legislature, which convenes Monday.

Last year, some legislators said Sebelius needed to run her proposal past the Health Policy Authority, set up in 2005 to manage the state’s health programs. Sebelius appoints three of the authority’s members, while legislative leaders appoint six.

But expanding state health coverage for children is now the authority’s top goal, spokeswoman Megan Ingmire told The Topeka Capital-Journal. The authority believes an additional 2,000 children would be covered during the first year.

Sebelius’ fellow Democrats are behind her plan as well.

“I certainly support widening coverage to those who can least afford it,” said Sen. David Haley, of Kansas City, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Health Care Strategies Committee.

Currently, children can obtain state coverage if their families earn up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level, or $40,000 for a family of four. Sebelius wants to allow families earning up to 300 percent of the poverty level to buy into the program.

But Neufeld said the best way to help uninsured Kansans is to enable them to take their health insurance with them when they change jobs. He said most uninsured Kansans who lost their coverage within the past five years did so because of a job change.

“So if you want to address the uninsured thing, you have to address the portability issue,” he said.