| As if on cue in reaction to the post calling out the jerks for attacking CHIP because one family who used the program happens to send their kids to private schools Dave Budge called the post "tittish," claimed that conservatives were only questioning the facts missed by the national media (not attacking the substance of CHIP) and added this bit:
Well, if it's all about kids, kids are pretty cheap to insure (being in the business I know something about that.) The subjects, the Frost kids, could get pretty good insurance for about $400/mo for all four of them. But I guess the trade-off for private schools and a house 1.5 times the size of mine makes them needy. So, inasmuh as the Freeper's reaction wasn't about either the merits of SCHIP nor did it demean every recipient as "undeserving n'eer-do-wells sucking off the teat of government" I have to point to the more hyperbolic hyperbole belonging to TheftInTheWest's mini-me.
First, if you know of a comprehensive insurance plan that covers a family of four, at least two of which with ongoing and expensive medical bills, for $400, send me the policy!
Second, Budge has a tendency to not read the posts or articles at the end of links and even sometimes the full content of posts he attacks (Montana bloggers take note). In this case, he apparently missed the dire warning from Mark Steyn, using the Frost family as evidence that CHIP will lead us to a place where "there are no free-born citizens, just a nation where everyone is a ward of the state," which I quoted in the post. If that's not demeaning recipients of CHIP as "undeserving n'eer-do-wells sucking off the teat of government," I don't know what is...
Third, what I meant about "knowing f*ck all" about the family happened to be exactly spot on in this case. What may appear at first glance to the ideologues already dismissing CHIP out of hand a wealthy family gaming the system, is in reality quite a bit different:
1) Graeme has a scholarship to a private school. The school costs $15K a year, but the family only pays $500 a year.
2) His sister Gemma attends another private school to help her with the brain injuries that occurred due to her accident. The school costs $23,000 a year, but the state pays the entire cost.
3) They bought their "lavish house" sixteen years ago for $55,000 at a time when the neighborhood was less than safe.
4) Last year, the Frost's made $45,000 combined. Over the past few years they have made no more than $50,000 combined.
5) The state of Maryland has found them eligible to participate in the CHIP program.
(In Montana, of course, where poverty levels are lower than Maryland, the Frosts would not be eligible for CHIP.)
If the vaunted investigative powers of freeperdom actually included real investigative work, they would have discovered these facts and let the Frosts avoid the indignity of random, harassing phone calls from right-wing bloggers. Or Michelle Malking stalking their neighborhood. Ugh.
The Frosts, not a wealthy family - but apparently a hard-working, accomplished, and innovative bunch - suffered a terrible accident and associated expensive medical bills. Without CHIP, they would have been destroyed financially. This is what CHIP is designed to do, help preserve families from our health care crisis. Period. If you prefer that CHIP fail because of your fantasies about markets and systems of government, a pox on your house. And I hope you have CHIP to cover your *sses when it hits.
Digby:
This is so loathesome I am literally sick to my stomach. These kids were hurt in a car accident. Their parents could not afford health insurance --- and sure as hell couldn't get it now with a severely handicapped daughter. And these shrieking wingnut jackasses are harassing their family for publicly supporting the program that allowed the kids to get health care. A program, by the way, which a large number of these Republicans support as well.
They went after Michael J. Fox. They went after a wounded Iraq war veteran. Now they are going after handicapped kids. There is obviously no limit to how low these people will go.
They'd better pray that they stay rich and healthy and live forever because if there is a hell these people are going to be on the express train to the 9th circle the minute they shuffle off their useless mortal coils.
As always...Digby nails it. |
