Community | November 18, 2011 | 37 comments

Bachmann: A Seven-Foot Doctor Told Me Obamacare Requires The IRS To Pre-Approve Medical Treatments

source: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2011/11/17/370181/two-minutes-of-crazy-michele-bachmann-unle...

WakeUpPeople
Michele Bachmann prides herself for pressing Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but during an appearance at Webster City, Iowa Wednesday night, the Minnesota congresswoman proved that she’s also leading the charge in developing outrageous new attacks against the legislation. At the town hall, Bachmann complained that undocumented immigrants are exempt from paying for the law, claimed that a seven-foot doctor told her the IRS had to approve medical procedures, and reiterated her long-standing view that doctors and hospitals would provide free care to the uninsured if they were shielded from malpractice claims:

– “Under Obamacare illegal aliens don’t have to pay for Obamacare. Only American citizens pay for Obamacare. [...] Illegal aliens have the possibility of getting the care, but they have no requirement to pay for the care. Only the citizens do.”

– “One man stood up, he was over 7-feet tall. He was a physician in the community. And he said, ‘I had a little lady in my office and because of Obamacare, I had to call the IRS and I had to get a number to put on a form before I could see her.’”

– “When I was a little girl…There were people who could not pay [for health care]. I mean they just did not have any money at all. And so the doctor would just write it off. [...] It’s very different today. Now, doctors don’t feel like they can do that…they worry about liability.”

It’s hard to make sense of any of Bachmann’s claims. Republicans successfully fought to keep undocumented immigrants from receiving tax credits through the exchanges and the ACA does nothing to change the existing Reagan-era law that requires hospitals to provide health care to everyone in need of emergency services. Undocumented immigrants also paid $11.2 billion in taxes in 2010, including $8.4 billion in sales taxes, $1.6 billion in property taxes, and $1.2 billion in personal income taxes.

The seven-foot doctor’s claims are similarly dubious, since the IRS does not begin enforcing the individual requirement to purchase health insurance until 2014 — and even then, the penalty is processed through personal income tax returns and would not require a medical provider to call the agency. Finally, Bachmann’s oft-repeated solution to reducing the number of uninsured — shield doctors from lawsuits and they’ll provide free health care to anyone who needs it — is a poor idea, to put it charitably, and hasn’t actually increased access to providers in states with existing “liability shield” regulations.
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37 comments // Bachmann: A Seven-Foot Doctor Told Me Obamacare Requires The IRS To Pre-Approve Medical Treatments // Video

  • notsure
    • 0
      notsure  
    • Image

    • Was She Speaking At A Home For People With Dementia? They Did Not Seem To Be Listening or They are just waiting for the promised Free Lunch. I Don't Know. You would Have To Have A Mental Illness to Believe Her Stories Are True.
      They Are Twisted Parables. "Only The One That Appear Righteous Will Be Helped." REALLY?

    • 6 months ago
  • gypsysailor
  • Leen61
  • Wyley_Wombat
    • +3
      Wyley_Wombat  

    • “When I was a little girl…There were people who could not pay [for health care]. I mean they just did not have any money at all. And so the doctor would just write it off. [...] It’s very different today. Now, doctors don’t feel like they can do that…they worry about liability.”

      I am not sure what country she grew up in, but I remember taking a friend who had cut herself badly to the emergency room. We sat there, me holding her arm elevated whilst the staff made sure her insurance card was valid. About 30 minutes later with a small pool of blood on the floor next to her chair, they decided that they had to do something. And the president back then....it was Ronald Ray-gun! Eat shit Michele, you're a liar.

    • 6 months ago
  • jim_b
    • +3
      jim_b  
    • Wyley_Wombat:

      On the flip side, I saw my Dad not bill patients that were legitimate charity cases in his eyes or accept bushels of corn and beans and even bartered labor in return for service of much greater value; he never charged a cop or any of his family for anything. The difference to him was that he got to decide who was worthy based on his personal interaction with the patient. I have no idea whether he was the exception or the rule but I will say that was a long time ago.

      Either way, Michelle should indeed eat shit and is quite a liar.

    • 6 months ago
  • wynnmeg61
    • +3
      wynnmeg61  
    • jim_b:

      Kudos to your father, yes indeed there were some physicians that provided care without charge to those who could not pay. However, I have noticed over the past 30 years there are fewer and fewer good people entering medicine for what I would call the "right reasons", such as a desire to help their fellow humans. There are an awful lot entering for all the wrong reasons -- like money and prestige; and honestly, these people shouldn't be allowed in the same building with a sick or injured person, let alone be treating patients.

    • 6 months ago
  • Ambill94
  • Leen61
    • +3
      Leen61  

    • "A Seven-Foot Doctor Told Me Obamacare Requires The IRS To Pre-Approve Medical Treatments" Maybe she was hallucinating and saw Frankenstein.

    • 6 months ago
  • wynnmeg61
    • +2
      wynnmeg61  
    • Leen61:

      She is full of it, the IRS has no say in medicare patient care at all. However, Dr. do have to get preauthorize for what are considered "elective" procedures. Dr. 7-ft-tall must have been a plastic surgeon, and Mrs. Little Lady wanted a face lift.

    • 6 months ago
  • Leen61
  • attilatheblond
  • Leen61
  • cherry5000
  • Dusty_King
  • timelord999
  • GavinTheMother
  • nanac
    • +2
      nanac  

    • It is absolutely incredible how politicians like Michele Bachmann are allowed to get away with spouting lies/misinformation/propaganda without any critiques, or very little from the MSM.
      Bachmann acts as if she believes her own lies.

    • 6 months ago
  • jim_b
  • Nick19
  • Varex_Sythe
  • jim_b
  • Varex_Sythe
    • +3
      Varex_Sythe  

    • What does the doctor being seven foot have to do with the story? It seems like a shameless attempt to make her claim more interesting...

    • 6 months ago
  • lazloman
  • wynnmeg61
  • Ambill94
  • Cruzankenny
    • +3
      Cruzankenny  
    • Ambill94:

      Any Doctor that would:
      #1 Call the IRS on a patient
      #2 Wait on the phone for 2 1/2 hours
      #3 Keep patients waiting while doing it who might have insurance or even money
      Is definitely an Alien. He wasn't calling the IRS, he was calling SETI for the phone number home.

    • 6 months ago
  • Ambill94
  • wynnmeg61
    • +6
      wynnmeg61  

    • She is the exact reason we need to reinforce the separation of church and state. She gives Christianity a bad name. Don't you wish she would actually read the Gospels and live by them? But no, she only uses her bible to bludgeon the poor, the sick, and the old. She would make Jesus weep.

    • 6 months ago
  • WakeUpPeople
    • +3
      WakeUpPeople  
    • wynnmeg61:

      Matthew 25:40 - 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'

      Maybe Bachmann thought that "the least of these" meant the 1%.

    • 6 months ago
  • wynnmeg61
  • GavinTheMother
    • +1
      GavinTheMother  
    • wynnmeg61:

      Don't you know? Jesus hated the poor and the sick. Damn poor sick people taking advantage of us tax payers! But good doctors will give real Americans care for free if they don't have money. So Jesus only hates sick and poor foreigners? Now I understand. Can't wait for her genius health care plan. Thank you President/Pastor in Chief Bachmann... I nearly threw up in my mouth writing that

    • 6 months ago
  • GavinTheMother
  • jim_b
  • Joeydee44
  • wynnmeg61
  • WakeUpPeople
  • chew_chew
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