Remember a couple of weeks ago, when President Bush vetoed the extension of the State Childrens Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and the Democrats responded with a rebuttal to the Bush's weekly radio address by a 12-year-old who had benefitted from the program?

Well, a poster over at the Free Republic message board did some due diligence on the 12-year-old, Graeme Frost of Baltimore, Md., and his family and, frankly, if these are some of the people who are helped by SCHIP then we need to cancel the program altogether.

According to the Democrats, and The Baltimore Sun, the Frosts, with four children, survive on just $45,000 a year.

Bonnie Frost works for a medical publishing firm; her husband, Halsey, is a woodworker. They are raising their four children on combined income of about $45,000 a year. Neither gets health insurance through work.

Having priced private insurance that would cost more than their mortgage - about $1,200 a month - they continue to rely on the government program. In Maryland, families that earn less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level - about $60,000 for a family of four - are eligible.

So, what's the real deal? Halsey Frost is a woodworker -- he owns a furniture business. This isn't some guy who runs a saw all day long, he's a small businessman. He owns the building his business is in, and apparently rents space to another company. The Frosts live in a 3,040 square foot home that's likely worth more than $500,000. A picture of the family published in the Sun shows them in a large, beautiful kitchen with granite countertops and glass front cabinets.

Oh, and the children attend the private Park School where tuition is $20,000 -- per student.

And they can't afford health insurance? Won't purchase is more like it.

According to some health insurance brokers over at Insureblog:

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?

What this looks like is an upper-middle class family that has gamed the system. There's two possibilities here: Either the Frosts are, as that television commercial puts it, in debt up to their eyeballs, or they're hiding income that would put them well above the SCHIP benefit limits.

You've also got to love the script Democrats wrote for this kid:

"If it weren't for CHIP, I might not be here today," Graeme says in the address, to air today on stations across the country.

The kid was in a car accident. When was the last time you saw an ambulance refuse to transport someone because they lacked insurance? When was the last time a hospital tossed a kid out on the street straight from the ICU because he didn't have insurance?

No, Graeme Frost would be with us with or without SCHIP -- he'd probably have to go to public school though.