The Choice on SCHIP

Last night, the Frost family was interviewed on MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," where they not only shared their experience having conservative bloggers try to intimidate them, but also shared pictures of what two of their kids went through after being in a major car accident. ThinkProgress and Crooks and Liars have the video and pictures.

The Frosts' story further illuminates the competing visions Americans have to choose from regarding how we deal with the problem of uninsured kids.

First, let's look at what Bush said back in July about SCHIP:

The immediate goal is to make sure there are more people on private insurance plans. I mean, people have access to health care in America. After all, you just go to an emergency room. The question is, will we be wise about how we pay for health care. I believe the best way to do so is to enable more people to have private insurance.

Well, the Frosts had access to an emergency room, but not to affordable private insurance. And SCHIP solved that problem.

Here's an exchange from Countdown yesterday:

OLBERMANN: ...walk through for us what would have happened to them without this S-CHIP program.

BONNIE FROST: Absolutely. Well, I have no doubt that they would have received care in the emergency room. But after their month in intensive care in their comas, they needed intensive rehabilitation, 4.5 months worth...

...Gemma had to learn how to talk and walk and do everything again. She couldn‘t get herself dressed. She couldn‘t read. She couldn‘t write. She didn‘t know how to go up the stairs. You had to teach her to go up the stairs.

Graeme could not eat. He couldn‘t walk. He couldn‘t sit up. He couldn‘t hold his head up. He couldn‘t swallow.

So it took months and months. And they are still working hard to get better and still getting special services and still going to physical therapy.

And there‘s no way that we could have afforded to send them through all those multiple therapies to recover and to continue to heal.

And I am positive that Graeme would not be walking, would not be eating. I don‘t know where Gemma would be right now.

SCHIP worked for the "middle-class" Frost family, and helped two kids recover from a devastating accident.

There's million more kids who need that coverage. Bush is in their way. It's up to House conservatives to decide if they want to join that obstruction or not.

Views expressed on this page are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Campaign for America's Future or Institute for America's Future