Ensuring adequate access to health care is the government's responsibility. That's why it was such an important factor in the presidential election.

It's also why the state government should ensure that Northwest Indiana has a trauma center.

State Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, has said he'll seek up to $300 million for the construction of a 200-bed hospital in Gary to be designated a trauma center. He hasn't said yet where that money would come from.

But operating the trauma centers is costly, too.

Brown wants to add an $18 court fee to most moving violations so drivers with poor habits would fund the trauma center. These drivers are, after all, contributing to the need for trauma care.

Some of the offenses that would be covered by these additional fines include drunken driving, reckless driving, speeding and disregarding a stoplight or stop sign.

Also supporting the state's trauma centers would be a $1 surcharge on license plate renewals.

A trauma center is not a run-of-the-mill emergency room. Certification as a trauma center requires having surgeons and specialists on call at all hours to treat patients critically injured in shootings, stabbings, traffic accidents and falls.

Northwest Indiana doesn't have a trauma center, and the one in nearby Olympia Fields, Ill., closed earlier this year.

With the level of violence, number of industrial plants and volume of traffic crossing Northwest Indiana, not to mention the high population, it is hard to argue against the region having its own trauma center. There are seven such centers elsewhere in Indiana but not here.

The problem is figuring out how to pay for it.

Brown's way to raise money to support the trauma centers in Indiana -- and his idea that the state should support the creation of a trauma center in Gary -- are worth consideration by the Indiana General Assembly.