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.

[Political Junkie Too]

Let me see if I understand this from Isikoff and NBC.

In one year, Nancy Pelosi's net worth grew 62% from $21.7 million to $35.2 million, for a one-year gain of $13.5 million.

And the MSM is focusing on Michelle Bachmann's husband and $137,000?

What's wrong with this picture?

-PJ

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks NewzJunkey. I’m just getting tired of this nonsense.

[MestaMachine]

I watched the entire Wallace interview. I heard with my own ears exactly what she said and how she said it. The CONSERVATIVE press then ran away with the red herring story of Wallace asking her if she was a flake, which in the entire interview was the LEAST important thing possible. AFTER the interview, I went online and found her financial disclosure forms. She lied flat out, pure simple.
That interview was BEFORE this article. This article is a hit piece that mixes two entirely different subjects and deliberately links them together as if they were one and the same.
If you read my earlier post, I didn’t base anything I said on the is-a-cough article. I based it on what I saw and heard from her own lips. And I speculatd on why she might have done this, but whatever the reason, she blew it...and what’s more, I believe she knows it.

[wardaddy]

The media is easier on her than the cult here is

[MestaMachine]

What is wrong with this picture is that two wrongs don’t make a right, and just because they do crap and get away with it doesn’t mean we should defend crap when someone asking for OUR trust and OUR vote does crap. THAT is what is wrong with this picture.

[wardaddy]

The ass hats here including crybabies who screwed up the forum years ago and have now come back to sow divisions again with their little games they play

Make it harder to enjoy celebrating when and if Sarah Palin does enter the race

I have seen some these folks at work here before over the years

It’s not about advancing conservatism
It’s about them and their little clique here

I hope none of them get back in the mods ranks
Plenty of decent well known conservatives are happy for Bachmann including JR, RUSH, AND Mark

There is no need to defame Bachmann even if Palin was on the race

Romney is the immediate target

Bitter old fools

[wardaddy]

Excellent post creek

This spectacle of the past few days towards michelle in such an organized way is vying for the forums darkest hour I’ve seen

in 11 years

I missed 2000 primaries but any Google search is an eye opener to how rough it got here...cannibalism and all

[Lexinom]

It’s getting pretty ridiculous, isn’t it?

[wardaddy]

Many nasty freepers ape the same talking points...so who’s worse?
Lefty media hacks or vicious freeper hacks?

Lol...it never ceases to surprise me here

[MayflowerMadam]

Anyone reporting on what goodies the husbands of Maxine Waters, Nancy Pelosi, etc., have received during their wives’ tenures?

[DoughtyOne]

It sure is.

[LadyDoc]

that is not a lot of money: it is over a five year period.

And is it for him as a private contractor, or for the clinic? Even in 1990 when I left private practice as a small town doc, my clinic billed 130 thousand for one year...but the gov’t Medicare/medicaid paid only 60 cents on the dollar for my billing expenses...

Medicaid pays a lot less than he could have collected from private insurance.

[bmwcyle]

Taking two chickens is payment is not done any more.

[LadyDoc]

also, complaining about the lazy on welfare rolls is not the same as taking Medicaid money for treating a mentally ill person.

Often counseling helps people over the trauma (e.g. stress or drug use after being abused as a child, the death of a loved one) so they can get back to normal and work; in other cases,(e.g. schizophrenia) they are so mentally ill just making it through the day is hard for them, and therefore they are indeed just as disabled as if they had arthritis or were blind.

The press is equating apples and oranges.

[Smokin' Joe]

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.

If the payments were for services rendered, how is that "benefiting from government aid"?

They rendered a service, they got paid.

Unfortunately, the MSM will twist a lot which will consume time and resources from Bachman's campaign while they address all the nit-picking.

Look at all the sh*t they threw at Sarah Palin, hoping they could get some to stick, and expect the same treatment.

[rlmorel]

"...Oh for G-d’s sake. Can you NOT understand plain English? "

My command of English is far better than both your self control and perception of the situation. If you can't have a civil discussion, don't bother replying. You cannot grasp the concept of the statements she is making.

Interesting that you want to climb right on with NBC and buy into a piece that is deliberately trying to mislead people who are ignorant, unable or unwilling to grasp the difference in their statements, or just plain want to find something they can use, false or not to attack a public figure.

In your case, I suspect it is the last of those three, and that says a lot about you, as does your lack of self control in discourse with others.

[xzins]

Let me see if I get this: the media doesn’t want doctors to treat Medicaid patients?

Do I have that right?

[liberalh8ter]

Didn't the press jump all over Obama about Michelle and Valerie Jarrett dumping patients?........ Oh that's right, they still haven't “uncovered” that shocking information, have they?

[chasio649]

It’s about them and their little clique here

---

some thing never change.

[ejdrapes]

Wow FR turning into the MSM. Brilliant.