$45,000 and No Insurance

[Welcome NRO Corner and Whiskey Fire readers!]

Had it not been for a federal health insurance program tailored for working families such as hers - ones lacking the income to purchase private health insurance - Frost is certain that she and her husband would be buried under a mound of unpaid medical bills.

The federal program referred to is SCHIP.

More than 100,000 Maryland children are covered under the federal program, according to state health officials. They estimate that the program will require an infusion of roughly $160 million in federal funds over the next five years - with the state also contributing dollars of its own - to continue providing coverage to those families.

Tax dollars.

Of course only the wealthy pay taxes.

The Frost family has a combined annual income of about $45,000, said Bonnie Frost. She and her husband have priced private health insurance, but they say it would cost them more per month than their mortgage - about $1,200 a month. Neither parent has health insurance through work.

$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.

UPDATE: The article linked at the top of this post has apparently been pulled by the BS, er, Baltimore Sun. An alternate version, with essentially the same info, is here.