NBC News

updated 6/28/2011 7:46:46 PM ET


While Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Minn., 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 clinic, based in Lake Elmo, Minn.,
describes itself on its website as offering
"quality Christian counseling" for a large
number of mental health problems ranging
from "anger management" to addictions and
eating disorders.


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.

Questions about the Bachmann family's
receipt of government funds arose this week
after a Los Angeles Times story reported that
a family farm in which Michelle Bachmann is a
partner had received nearly $260,000 in
federal farm subsidies.

Read more reporting by Michael Isikoff in
'The Isikoff Files'

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."

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Oh, she is going to be fun, fun, fun.

I haven't been able to verify that Marcus Bachmann is a *licensed*
therapist. It's going to be very interesting if he isn't.

Stay tuned! :)