Posted on 06/28/2011 7:41:48 PM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at openchannel.msnbc.msn.com ...
Wow FR turning into the MSM. Brilliant.
I agree. Keep going, don’t give in to Bachmanbots.
this is just the beginning of her campaign...and it DOESN’T MATTER if she can prove she is right or “its no big deal”..we need someone that is bullet proof.
I am getting less and less comfortable with her.
and IF Palin decides not to run what will they do then? Re-elect Barry for 4 more years?
“The Left” was pointing out that Michelle Bachmann said something which was not true. Not only was it not true, it was something not true about her personal (via her husband) financial affairs.
Mrs. Bachmann needs a better manager and/or she needs to quit speaking off-the-cuff.
Well Well that is quite an attack. I think most of us were directing our comments to the ONE issue the thread was about.
since the msm have made it clear they are going to go after her foster children, we would all be remiss by not holding the msm to a standard of truth. Allowing them to get by with smering one candidate certainly is NOT going to help the others.
Doctors don’t get Medicaid. People get Medicaid.
Just consider the source...Nothing But Communists network.
She either is too naive and incompetent to understand what she did with Rollins, or it was a plan on her part.
Either way, she's the one you should be carping about. She (and her cult like followers) have no one to blame but her, but they won't. Ater all, it must be Palin's fault.........
I would think badly about Bachmann more for hiring Ed Rollins than any other thing she’s done. That guy is a loser.
No, what the media wants is to hold any conservative Pub to an impossible standard as they look away from all the contradictions and missteps of their lefty.
The more I learn about Mrs. Bachmann the more I like her. She's well educated. She understands finance and economic theory. She's experienced. Her life story is one of character and self sacrifice. I think she will be a great President.
I know it might require too much nuance for the media, but there is no contradiction in accepting reimbursement from a system that you criticize. If nothing else Dr. Bachmann should be acknowledged for taking patients that can't pay and accepting less than market rates in compensation. However, employees of Dr. Bachmann may want to encourage him to take patients that can pay or they won't have jobs in the long run.
Along with that, I can almost guarantee that she has absolutely NO idea that medicaid payments were made at all.
When I ran a Psych office, Medicaid and Super Blue were the WORST for paying. My main doctor was the Head Psych. If anyone was admitted, he was the doctor in charge until that person was seen by another doctor or sent to the Catholic Charity hospital downtown. A medicaid claim went like this.
1. Submit billing
2. Wait 3 months
3. Get turned down
4. Resubmit billing with report on case
5. Wait 3 months
6a. Get turned down again and write it off
or 6b. Get paid 1/3 of what everyone else charged.
If she is not running the books, how would she know what was being accepted there? She had an idea of ONE payment and responded accordingly.
You’re right, it’s an impossible standard.
>>Doctors don’t get Medicaid. People get Medicaid.<<
Actually, that is factually brilliant.
We were paid BY medicaid for services rendered to their customers.
Not too bad for Michelle. She thinks she’s better than Palin and sends a message of how through Rollins that really wasn’t very convincing. This is only the beginning for Bachmann and she will have to do a better job convincing than her boy Rollins.
“Another 4 years of Obama means the end of this once great nation..”
We agree on that point and it won’t take all 4 years of a second term which has nothing to restrain him from going far, far to the Left; even with Repub House and Senate, The Messiah will use the EPA, the Fed, Geithner, Holder, etc. to cut America off at the knees.
Nonetheless, I think there are a broader range of Republicans who can beat him into the mud and I can’t wait to see it.
Be well.
I presume their is a problem with your linky machine.
Government reimbursment is not government funding.
“Deserved” is not the same as “earned”.
She is not her husband’s accountant. The topic under discussion was grant money, not the insurance providers of her husband’s clients.
She misrepresented nothing.
A normal person understands this. What type of person are you?
Are you really this dumb? Or do you just pretend.
Plenty of adults have clarified the situation concerning Bachmann - but concerning you?
Fake dummy or real dummy? Who knows?
You’re right oc. It’s not Government Aid but getting paid for services rendered. I do not support MB, unless she wins the nomination and really think these attacks are lame.
bookmark
Wow. Another ‘eat our own’ thread.
Bachmann lied because her husband’s business saw some Medicaid patients and got 20 cents to the dollar for it. Bachmann is of course presumed to know everything about her husband’s business, and like all good wives is responsible for everything her husband, the breadwinner, does.
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