First Focus, a children's advocacy group, this week in its Children's Budget 2008 reported that only one cent of each "new" dollar of federal spending (excluding defense) goes to kids. A lot of the report focused on education, so we asked them how does health spending add up. The answer: not so hot.

The overall share of federal, non-defense spending going to children's programs has dropped by 10 percent over the past five years. Real discretionary spending on children has declined by more than 6 percent since 2004, while at the same time all other non-defense discretionary spending has increased by more than 8 percent, the group reported.

Because so much of spending on children' health is through Medicaid, SCHIP, and other entitlements, not out of the discretionary budget, spending on health programs did grow from 2004–08. However, total spending on children's health amounts to less than 2 percent of the total federal budget, and less than 0.4 percent of the Gross Domestic Product.

Outside the mandatory programs, discretionary spending on children's health has declined in real terms. Discretionary spending is down 6.3 percent. As a share of total federal spending, children's health spending has lost ground. Children's health spending currently makes up 1.9 percent of all federal spending, while in 2004 its share was 1.97 percent, a 3.5 percent drop.

In addition, the $35 billion SCHIP proposal, which President Bush vetoed, represented one-quarter of 1 percent of the federal budget.

We believe that the entire health system needs to be overhauled for both equity and efficiency, which includes looking comprehensively at our kids' health and how we spend federal dollars. But these trends concern us. Investing in children means investing in their health and wellness. It will pay off in countless ways. Short term budget fights and long-term reform efforts have to make sure that, as this group's name implies, we first focus on what really matters.