PHOENIX - The United States needs "universal health care,'' Gov. Janet Napolitano said Monday, though she said that doesn' necessarily mean government-provided insurance.

Napolitano told Capitol Media Services every person in th country deserves "access at an affordable rate to basic health insurance plan.'' And she said there needs to be "a government role'' in all of that "but not necessarily exclusivel government.''

The issue arises as Napolitano and her colleagues, in Washingto for the National Governors Association meeting, are lobbying th White House to extend the State Children's Health Insurance Program which provides health insurance to children of th working poor.

"There seems to be, I think, a tacit agreement that this needs t be handled in such a way that people on the program are no forced off,'' Napolitano said.

But Napolitano said she and other governors actually want more federal funding so states can enroll more people in the program.

And that, she said, goes to the goal of universal health care.

"There's a growing consensus among governors, Republican and Democrat alike, that affordable access availability of healt insurance, which is a portal to health care, is something we need to have,'' Napolitano said.

"There are a variety of mechanisms to get there,'' the governo continued, with at least 30 states seeking to expand health insurance coverage.

In Arizona, Napolitano is moving in that direction with plans to enroll more children in Kids Care, Arizona's version of th S-CHIP program. But the governor said she has no preconceive notion of what universal health care ultimately will look like.

"It can be the provision at a low rate, based on income, of a basic health insurance plan that everybody can have the option t buy,'' Napolitano said, saying Michigan and Tennessee are moving in that direction. And she said it means rethinking how healt insurance is financed - including questions of how coverage is treated under federal tax laws.

"At its most basic, it's giving everybody access at an affordabl rate to basic health insurance plan,'' she said. Napolitano said while there needs to be a government role, others need to be involved.

"I think employers need to be there,'' she said.

"I think individuals need to be part of that mix,'' Napolitano continued. "And I also don't think that suggests a single-payer system.''

While lobbying in Washington for more money, Napolitano has more immediate problem at home: She is having little luck wit plans to enroll more children in Kids Care.

That program now provides nearly free insurance to children in families earning more than the federal poverty level - th cutoff for free family health insurance - but less than twic that figure. That computes to between $20,000 and $40,000 a yea for a family of four.

Napolitano wants lawmakers to repeal what she calls a "ga order'' prohibiting schools from providing information about the program to youngsters who may be eligible. But she also wants t increase eligibility to three times the poverty level - $60,00 for a family of four.

Sen. Carolyn Allen, R-Scottsdale, has so far been unsuccessful i convincing colleagues to repeal that outreach restriction, thoug she told Capitol Media Services she hopes to get that language tacked onto some bill. But Allen was not optimistic about expanding the program to cover the children of those who earn up to three times the federal poverty level. She said that will b an almost impossible sell at the Legislature.