One of my best friends called me this week and told me that she just started clipping coupons for the first time in her life. All across the country, moms and dads are sitting down at their kitchen tables and figuring out how to make their money stretch farther. If we are thinking carefully about our money, it's only fair that our leaders do the same. How?

I'm a self-proclaimed optimist and hopeful about the "yes, we can" message emanating from Washington. But I felt as if I'd been kicked in the gut last week when I read a New York Times article by Robert Pear about price gauging in health policies for women.

My two children have received excellent public health benefits in San Francisco since before they were born. I qualified for no-cost Medi-Cal during both pregnancies though my partner and I were both self-employed. After my children were born, this coverage has allowed me to focus on taking care of our kids - now ages 5 and 2.5 - rather than get a job just for the healthcare benefits.

I moved back to Tustin, CA in December 2006 after leaving a man who had been abusive and a marriage that was falling apart. While I was looking for work, we were on Medi-Cal but I did not want to stay on for long because I felt others needed it more than me.

After months of stalemate, a state budget is finally in place. Penny-wise and pound-foolish, the significant cuts to children's health care in the 2008-09 budget will reverse a decade of progress in covering our state's children and cause much costlier problems down the road.