Posted on 10/09/2007 5:21:39 AM PDT by radar101
ABC News' Rick Klein Reports: With debate raging in Washington over children's health insurance, congressional Democrats found a new way to make their case for an expansion last weekend: Rather than have a senator or a congressman respond to President Bush's weekly radio address, they decided to have a child who was helped by the program speak directly to the public.
But the 12-year-old boy whom Democrats chose as their poster child is now at the center of a firestorm in Washington and beyond. Conservative bloggers who uncovered some details of the family's finances are blasting the family, calling the fact that they rely on federal insurance an example of how the State Children's Health Insurance Program has expanded beyond its original intent.
According to Senate Democratic aides, some bloggers have made repeated phone calls to the home of 12-year-old Graeme Frost, demanding information about his family's private life. On Monday, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid accused GOP leadership aides of "pushing falsehood" in an effort to distract from the political battle over S-CHIP.
"This is a perverse distraction from the issue at hand," said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Reid, D-Nev. "Instead of debating the merits of providing health care to children, some in GOP leadership and their right-wing friends would rather attack a 12-year-old boy and his sister who were in a horrific car accident."
Manley cited an e-mail sent to reporters by a Senate Republican leadership aide, summing up recent blog traffic about the boy's family. A spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declined to comment on Manley's charge that GOP aides were complicit in spreading disparaging information about Frosts.
In making the case for a proposed expansion of the S-CHIP program, Democrats found a boy who seemed like an ideal poster child in Graeme Frost, a Baltimore native whose family does not have private health insurance.
When Graeme and his sister were seriously injured in a 2004 car crash, their parents relied on S-CHIP coverage to help them recover. After House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office became aware of the Frosts through a healthcare interest group, FamiliesUSA, Democratic leaders turned to Graeme to deliver the party's weekly radio address Sept. 29.
"If it weren't for CHIP, I might not be here today," Frost said in the address, which was written by Senate Democratic aides. "We got the help we needed because we had health insurance for us through the CHIP program. But there are millions of kids out there who don't have CHIP, and they wouldn't get the care that my sister and I did if they got hurt."
But after a largely positive story about Frost appeared in the Baltimore Sun, conservative-leaning bloggers began focusing on details of Frost's family situation. They suggested the family makes the conservative argument -- that the children's health insurance program has strayed from its original purpose by subsidizing healthcare for middle-class families, not just poor children.
A blogger on FreeRepublic.com discovered that Frost and his sister, Gemma, attend a private school where tuition costs $20,000 a year. Their father, Halsey, is a self-employed woodworker, meaning that if his family doesn’t have health insurance, it’s because Halsey Frost -- as his own boss -- chooses not to purchase it for himself.
"One has to wonder that if time and money can be found to remodel a home, send kids to exclusive private schools, purchase commercial property and run your own business . . . maybe money can be found for other things," a blogger with the handle "icwhatudo" wrote on FreeRepublic.
That posting was widely circulated in the blogosphere, making great fodder for conservatives who argue that President Bush was right to veto the Democrats’ bill expanding S-CHIP.
"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," Mark Tapscott, editorial page editor of The Washington Examiner, wrote on his blog.
But Manley say conservative bloggers didn't dig deep enough. It turns out that the Frost children attend Baltimore’s Park School on near-full scholarships; they pay roughly $500 per child per year in tuition, he said.
Like many small-business owners, Halsey Frost can't even afford to provide health insurance to himself, Manley said.
"Last year, the Frost's made $45,000 combined," Manley said. "Over the past few years they have made no more than $50,000 combined depending on Halsey's ability to find work."
The Frost family did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Why do I smell a Trust Fund?
And it's VERY easy to hide income while doing real estate. Buy a house, spend time improving it, sell it. The money you made is capital gains, rather than salary from the work you put in. And if you trade up to a bigger house, you can avoid even cap gains tax
Where do you get that figure?
My family has Blue Cross insurance, for five people, and it costs us less than $550.00 per month. We are self employed, and pay the whole thing, including deductibles, co-insurance costs and co-pays.
And I know for a fact that Blue Cross offers even cheaper policies.
I find nothing identifying Bonnie as the driver (of course!), or any mention of auto insurance being in place. I’m sure the parents were covered by something, because they seem so conscientious, and able to go through all the hoops to qualify for other programs where someone pays the bill.
These were some horrific injuries.
I wonder if they were wearing seatbelts and if the car had airbags - if so, this is a very chilling story.
Well, thanks for clearing that up for me — I stand corrected. LOL.
It’s probably already been mentioned that Bonnie Frost is an associate with what seems to be a legitimate publishing company. I can’t believe they don’t offer medical coverage.
Bonnie Frost
In 2007, Bonnie joined the Kaufman-Wills Group as an associate conducting various market research projects, compiling competitive journal profiles, developing and maintaining databases, and helping to manage company operations. A graduate of Towson University, Bonnie’s previous work experience includes bookkeeping and operations management for Frostworks, Inc., as well as curriculum writing, admissions work, and teaching preschool and kindergarten at First English Lutheran Preschool in Baltimore.
http://www.kaufmanwills.com/section.cfm?id=24
I read criticism of Michelle Malkin on one of the Lefty websites, that she was creepy and equaled being a stalker for doing a drive-by of the house and commercial property owned by Halsey Frost. The proposed solution was to call the Frost family and get their side of the story. Now, calling the Frost family is harassment.
This is just another example of the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" double standards of the libs.
Here's a free piece of advice, if you want to keep your family privacy, don't allow your 7th Grader to become a national spokesman for a major political party. You can't put out your family story as an argument in national politics, then turn around and demand your privacy. It's simply not possible.
LLS
Check out Peter Cooper's link. It's not the schools that are funding the scholarships. It's you! Via the "special needs" scam.
It doesn’t appear that Bonnie has had an outside job until this year, so acting as a “bookkeeper” for her husband’s business probably didn’t pay her very well and didn’t require much time.
She’s probably gone back to work now that the kids are older and all in school.
Something smells fishy. After 20 years of business, her husband needs to find another line of work if he’s only able to earn $45k a year. (I doubt it, based on their purchases and assets.)
The accident was horrific, the kids were in comas and had severe brain and facial injuries. Nobody begrudges their treatments, but: What about auto insurance? No mention of it, or the driver responsible for such horrific injuries.
Do the parents have any insurance coverage for themselves? Health? Car? Property? Just how much are they planning on sponging off other people?
The closest the DBM will go to identifying the driver, that I've seen, is to call the vehicle "the family SUV."
I suppose that leaves room for a non-family member to have been driving it. (S'pose it COULD have been an uninsured illegal nanny driving the kids around in the "family SUV" --lots of hip urban parents hire nannies to do that. But nah, I think the driver was probably the mom.)
I’m sure the parents were covered by something, because they seem so conscientious, and able to go through all the hoops to qualify for other programs where someone pays the bill.
Don't know about "conscientious." Is it "conscientious" to own a lot of equity in both your residence and your commercial property, yet not buy health insurance for your kids? Isn't the premise of the whole story that they did not have health insurance?
“The proper term for Democrats is “unscrupulous-leaning”.”
The “proper” term is C*O*M*M*U*N*I S*T!
LLS
“It’s probably already been mentioned that Bonnie Frost is an associate with what seems to be a legitimate publishing company. I can’t believe they don’t offer medical coverage.”
They may. Or may not.
Small group health insurance in Maryland is very expensive, especially as one’s age band gets up past 40.
For my own company, we have Health Savings Accounts and have high deductibles, to reduce our premium costs.
Nonetheless, my own insurance for my family is over $10,000 per year. Ouch. Our least expensive family policy is a bare-bones HMO that runs over $600 per month.
Plans without high deductibles and HSAs can easily be over $1,000 per month.
A lot of smaller businesses in Maryland just don’t provide health insurance. If you’re paying someone $30,000 per year, an additional $8,000+ per year in health insurance premiums, no matter how much the employer or the employee is paying of the premium, starts to become economically irrational.
sitetest
Thanks for the link. She probably turned down health insurance at the company becuase she already had SCHIPS! These people are NOT what the program was designed for. They are leeches.
I agree, but I also know that some businesses offer owners wonderful opportunities to handle cash in a way that cannot be tracked. I know business owners who have bragged about making a handsome living while showing a loss on paper.
“What about auto insurance?”
Auto insurance would have paid only a small portion of the medical treatment required by the two children.
sitetest
$45,000 a year for a self employed woodworker is really not a very real income!
I had woodwork done for a business location 3 years ago, it consisted of crown molding, door frames, floor molding and a few minor beautifications around iron posts, and 6 ft. bar
Cost: $35,000. space size was under 1300 sq. ft.
The Baltimore Sun article stated that they had priced private insurance, but it would cost more than their mortgage payment of $1200 a month.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.