Oops!

Last week the Democrats put forth a 12-year old child to give their radio address advocating for expansion of the SCHIP policy. Everyone could feel for the boy whose family couldn't afford his medical care without the state aid.

However, is his family in the desperate straits as was portrayed by the Democrats and the media that covered the boy? One researcher at Free Republic found out some interesting facts about that particular family - they aren't as poor as portrayed - they just didn't want to buy health insurance. Mark Steyn summarizes the findings.

Mr Frost, the "woodworker", owns his own design company and the commercial property it operates from, part of which space he also rents out; they have a 3,000-sq-ft home on a street where a 2,000-sq-ft home recently sold for half a million dollars; he was able to afford to send two children simultaneously to a $20,000-a-year private school; his father and grandfather were successful New York designers and architects

That is what a few online bloggers could find out with a just a bit of googling. And Steyn also links to a blogger on insurance who also rejects the assertion from the family that it would have cost around $1200 a month for the family to have health insurance and finds insurance for about 1/3 to 1/2 that cost for them.

$1200 per month for a family of 6 in Baltimore. Really? What are they smoking?

A check of a quote engine for zip code 21250 (Baltimore) finds a plan for $641 with a $0 deductible and $20 doc copays.

Adding a deductible of $750 (does not apply to doc visits) drops the premium to $452. That's almost a third of the price quoted in the article. Doesn't anyone bother to check the facts?

Apparently not.

This is what a few bloggers could find out just because they had Google and a little curiosity. If this is all true, it's a shame that journalists and Democratic politicians are deprived of that curiosity and the access to Google.