Boy, 12, Becomes Pawn In Health Row

A 12-year-old American boy has been thrust into the centre of a bitter health-care dispute between Democrats and President Bush, as a result of which he and his family have been virulently attacked by right-wing bloggers.

Graeme Frost agreed to give the Democrats’ response to Mr Bush’s radio address last week, on the emotive subject of childrens health insurance. Since then his family has received threatening e-mails, abusive telephone calls and the wrath of conservative talkshow hosts and the right-wing blogosphere.

Democrats, who accuse Republicans of smearing the Frost family to score political points, have been accused of cynically exploiting the boy.

At the heart of the controversy is a bipartisan Bill to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Programme (SCHIP). It provides coverage for children of the working poor: families not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, the state and federal health coverage system. Mr Bush vetoed the Bill, claiming that it would cover many families able to afford insurance.

Democrats enlisted Graeme to make a two-minute radio address last week, in which one can hear the effects of the 2004 car crash that put him into a coma for a week, leaving one of his vocal chords paralysed. “If it weren’t for SCHIP, I might not be here today,” he said.

Last weekend a blogger on the conservative website Freerepublic.com noted that Graeme attended a $20,000 (£10,000)-a-year private school and lived in a renovated house in Baltimore near one that recently sold for $485,000, and that his father, Halsey, bought a commercial property in 1999 for $160,000. That unleashed a storm of e-mails, internet postings and telephone calls aimed at the family, amid claims that Graeme’s parents had chosen not to buy health insurance for him and his three siblings. His sister, Gemma, 9, suffered severe brain injuries in the car crash.

“Hang ’em. Publicly,” one blogger on Redstate.com wrote. “Let ’em twist in the wind and be eaten by ravens. Then maybe the bunch of socialist patsies will think twice.”

Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio host, said that Democrats had “filled this kid’s head with lies”.

Mr Frost and his wife, Bonnie, point out that Graeme gets a scholarship to the school; Gemma’s brain injuries were so severe that the city pays to educate her at a school for children with disabilities; they bought their house in 1990 for $55,000; and that their joint income is less than $50,000, which qualifies them for SCHIP.

Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic House Speaker, said: “I think it’s a really sad statement about how bankrupt some of these people are in their arguments against SCHIP that they would attack a 12-year-old boy.”

Michelle Malkin, a conservative blogger, responded: “If you don’t want these questions, don’t foist these children on to the public stage.”

The case recalls the “War of Jennifer’s Ear” during the 1992 election in Britain, when Labour ran an advert about a five-year-old who waited a year for an operation. Questions arose about the case and there was outrage over involving a young girl in politics.

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