You may remember the Democrats’ S-chip poster child, Graeme Frost, the 12-year-old boy from Baltimore, MD, whose parents relied on Maryland’s S-chip program to pay for his health care following a severe car accident. Graeme recounted his sob story to Congress in an effort to show the mean Republicans that poor kids need health insurance, too. Baltimore Sun reporter Matthew Hay Brown profiled the “poor” Frost family, but failed to ask some important questions. As it turns out, little Graeme isn’t so poor, and bloggers are on the story. Blogger icwhatudo at Free Republic did a quick Internet investigation and discovered some interesting facts about the Frosts:
Yeah, the Frosts sound dirt poor, and certainly worthy of government handouts. These revelations show the problems with S-chip. The program does not simply provide coverage to needy children. Bruce Kesler at the Democracy Project writes, “According to the official Maryland web site for its SCHIP program version, Maryland Childrens Health Care, there is no asset test for participation in SCHIP. All aboard the dole train(-wreck).” Mark Tapscott, editorial page editor of the Washington Examiner notes in his blog: “People make choices and it’s clear the Frosts have made choice to invest in property and a business, but not in private health insurance.” If S-chip applicants were required to undergo an asset test, the Frosts likely would not have qualified. Yoshi at The Shotgun says: