Bachmann's husband got $137,000 in Medicaid funds

NBC ^ | Tuesday June 28, 2011 | Michael Isikoff

[Bigtigermike]

While Rep. Michele Bachmann has forcefully denounced the Medicaid program for swelling the "welfare rolls," the mental health clinic run by her husband has been collecting annual Medicaid payments totaling over $137,000 for the treatment of patients since 2005, according to new figures obtained by NBC News.

The previously unreported payments are on top of the $24,000 in federal and state funds that Bachmann & Associates, the clinic founded by Marcus Bachmann, a clinical therapist, received in recent years under a state grant to train its employees, state records show. The figures were provided to NBC News in response to a Freedom of Information request.

The $161,000 in payments from the Minnesota Department of Human Services to her husband's clinic appear to contradict some of Michelle Bachmann's public accounts this week when she was first asked about the extent to which her family has benefited from government aid. Contacted this afternoon, Alice Stewart, a spokeswoman for Bachmann, said the congresswoman was doing campaign events and was not immediately available for comment.

[...]

When asked by anchor Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday" about the story's assertion that her husband's counseling clinic had also gotten federal and state funds, Bachmann replied that it was "one-time training money that came from the federal government. And it certainly didn't help our clinic."

At another point, she said, "My husband and I did not get the money," adding that it was "mental health training money that went to the employees."

But state records show that Bachmann & Associates has been collecting payments under the Minnesota's Medicaid program every year for the past six years. Karen Smigielski, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services, said the state's Medicaid program is funded "about 50-50" with federal and state monies.

[DaxtonBrown]

Here it comes! Too bad for Michelle. I’m a Palin fan, but I hate to see this.

[mnehring]

Let’s be fair, in most cases a doctor is required to accept government money before private. If a doctor hands him a roll of cash, he is required to check for a federal funding option first. It is part of the massive BS bureaucracy of our gov.

[taildragger]

Section9 called it....

I am not sure she will last much longer in the race....

[jimfree]

What did it cost him to deliver those services.

[Major Matt Mason]

Was her husband supposed to turn it down? Was he even able to turn it down? What is illegal about this? If he is required to take this money, then this is a non-story.

[old curmudgeon]

Medicaid payments are for services rendered.

You treat a patient, you get paid.

How scandalous. Working for money.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

I think Michelle Bachmann is a terrific Conservative, but this particular story is exactly why I think Palin is our best and brightest hope for 2012.

The press has plenty of ammo left for anyone else. But with Palin, their magazine is empty, they have fired everything they have and she is still going strong.

Other candidates will have to suffer the withering fire of these ridiculous charges, putting them on the defensive and off the attack.

[nopardons]

It’s not her/the business getting the money, it’s her LYING about it that I find most disturbing.

[Anti-Bubba182]

Ain’t it the truth! The slime brigade is just warming up.

[P-Marlowe]

The fees paid by Medicaid are about 50% of the fees that a physician gets from Blue Cross or any other health carrier. Doctors who treat Medicaid patients generally lose money but they do it in order to give poor patients care. Getting paid for treating Medicaid patients is the functional equivalent of doing charity work.

This is a dirty smear job by NBC.

A lot of doctors would rather quit the practice than treat Medicaid patients. Most of them are Democrats.

The MSM Campaign to destroy Michelle Bachmann has begun in earnest.

[Son House]

Too bad for state run media this isn’t going to distract supporters from a big TEA bash for 2012

[Bigtigermike]

I don’t think her husband did anything wrong or illegal....so they are not wrong, its just that Michele opened her mouth and made a claim on national TV and the MSM is looking into it. She said one time thing, they found annual things

[Joann37]

$137K in six years, or less than $25K/yr., is supposed to be scandalous? That’s probably 1% of his business!

NBC News is extremely desperate!

[nuconvert]

Lol. So, what if her husband’s clinic decided tomorrow not to take Medicaid patients anymore. Would that make the msm happy?

[musical_airman]

Too bad for Bachmann...Apparently you can not object to the rules in place any more if you play by them.

[nopardons]

Exactly!

There isn't anything new that the MSM can find on Palin, but who knows what all is lurking in the others' closets, or how they'll handle the outings?

[rabscuttle385]

the mental health clinic run by her husband has been collecting annual Medicaid payments totaling over $137,000 for the treatment of patients since 2005

So, according to liberals, we would all be hypocrites for taking advantage of the programs that we are forced to pay for through our tax dollars.

That's like saying that every American would be a hypocrite for trying to fight back against a rapist.

[Leader_Of_The _Conservatives]

A private practice can choose to accept funds like Medicaid. His apparently did and Bachmann’s answer showing her lying is making Palin look better and better. If she wasnt the conservative version of Obama she would be toast already. Most conservatives protect her like liberals protected Obama’s record/lack of record

[Persevero]

So? He was supposed to work for free?

Unless there is false or extortionate billing here, I don’t care.