Taxpayers may have to cover octuplet mom's costs

[John81]

Taxpayers may have to cover octuplet mom's costs

LOS ANGELES ? A big share of the financial burden of raising Nadya Suleman's 14 children could fall on the shoulders of California's taxpayers, compounding the public furor in a state already billions of dollars in the red.

Even before the 33-year-old single, unemployed mother gave birth to octuplets last month, she had been caring for her six other children with the help of $490 a month in food stamps, plus Social Security disability payments for three of the youngsters. The public aid will almost certainly be increased with the new additions to her family.

Also, the hospital where the octuplets are expected to spend seven to 12 weeks has requested reimbursement from Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program, for care of the premature babies, according to the Los Angeles Times. The cost has not been disclosed.

Word of the public assistance has stoked the furor over Suleman's decision to have so many children by having embryos implanted in her womb.

"It appears that, in the case of the Suleman family, raising 14 children takes not simply a village but the combined resources of the county, state and federal governments," Los Angeles Times columnist Tim Rutten wrote in Wednesday's paper. He called Suleman's story "grotesque."

On the Internet, bloggers rained insults on Suleman, calling her an "idiot," criticizing her decision to have more children when she couldn't afford the ones she had, and suggesting she be sterilized.

"It's my opinion that a woman's right to reproduce should be limited to a number which the parents can pay for," Charles Murray wrote in a letter to the Los Angeles Daily News. "Why should my wife and I, as taxpayers, pay child support for 14 Suleman kids?"

She was also berated on talk radio, where listeners accused her of manipulating the system and being an irresponsible mother.

"From the outside you can tell that this woman was playing the system," host Bryan Suits said on the "Kennedy and Suits" show on KFI-AM. "You're damn right the state should step in and seize the kids and adopt them out."

A call to Suleman's publicist Mike Furtney was not immediately returned.

In her only media interviews, Suleman told NBC's "Today" she doesn't consider the public assistance she receives to be welfare and doesn't intend to remain on it for long.

Also, a Nadya Suleman Family Web Site has been set up to collect donations for the children. It features pictures of the mother and each octuplet and has instructions for making donations by check or credit card.

Suleman, whose six older children range in age from 2 to 7, said three of them receive disability payments. She said one is autistic, but she has not disclosed the other youngsters' disabilities, and refused to say how much they get in payments.

In California, a low-income family can receive Social Security payments of up to $793 a month for each disabled child. Three children would amount to $2,379.

The Suleman octuplets' medical costs have not been disclosed, but in 2006, the average cost for a premature baby's hospital stay in California was $164,273, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The average cost for just one cesarean birth in 2006 was $22,762 in California. Eight times that equals $1.3 million.

For a single mother, the cost of raising 14 children through age 17 ranges from $1.3 million to $2.7 million, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is struggling to close a $42 billion budget gap by cutting services, declined through a spokesman to comment on the taxpayer costs associated with the octuplets' delivery and care.

Suleman received disability payments for an on-the-job back injury during a riot at a state mental hospital, collecting more than $165,000 over nearly a decade before the benefits were discontinued last year.

Some of the disability money was spent on in vitro fertilizations, which was used for all 14 of her children, Suleman said. Suleman said she also worked double shifts at the mental hospital and saved up for the treatments. She estimated that all her treatments cost $100,000.

A dozen states, including California, have laws requiring insurance companies to cover infertility treatment, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But California does not require insurers to cover in vitro procedures. It's not clear what type of coverage Suleman has.

In the NBC interview, Suleman said she will go back to California State University, Fullerton in the fall to complete her master's degree in counseling, and will use student loans to support her children. She said she will rely on the school's daycare center and volunteers.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090211/ap_ ... /octuplets

[1John2:15-17]

Saw this one coming.

And isn't there going to be more of this thanks to the POTUS?

Change we can believe in...... :loco

[John81]

Early on I thought a spokesperson or someone had stated this woman didn't receive any welfare.

It seems she's been on welfare for her six children and then went and spent a large sum of money to have eight more.

Beyond all this, I'm finding it interesting who is coming out and demanding government action when it comes to reproduction, who is calling for the State to take the children away, and similar things.

[Guest Guest]

I'm having a really difficult time with this one. I believe the Lord allowed the babies to be here. Now for all of us that don't believe in abortion lets pray for her and speak out on ways to take care of these chidren and the mom. I'm not saying her conception was right but now we should love the children and her. You never know how the Lord will use this to help her and other pregnant lonly,scared women-pixiedust :pray :pray :pray

[John81]

What is bothering me is the number of so-called conservatives and conservative Christians who are proclaiming the State should take these children away from their mother. Since when do conservatives or Christians advocate for the State to interfere in family matters like this?

[Guest Guest]

What is bothering me is the number of so-called conservatives and conservative Christians who are proclaiming the State should take these children away from their mother. Since when do conservatives or Christians advocate for the State to interfere in family matters like this?

pixiedust

[tired]

I am just going to have my company send my check to the gov. They need it more than me. They can use it for better stuff than me taking care of my family. Maybe it can go straight to Hamas. I think this woman will get alot of money from the Oprah's and the Dr. Phil's.

[John81]

I am just going to have my company send my check to the gov. They need it more than me. They can use it for better stuff than me taking care of my family. Maybe it can go straight to Hamas. I think this woman will get alot of money from the Oprah's and the Dr. Phil's.

Obama and the rest of the liberal-socialists already think like that! This is exactly what Obama was talking about when he spoke with Joe the Plumber about redistributing the wealth.

After all, look at all the money we waste donating to biblical churches and groups; and all the money we waste buying the things we need and want; and don't forget to look at how wonderful Europe is where they take most of the check and provide all those fantastic government services for just about everything!

If this woman can play her cards right she will clean house; if not she will get hammered by one side as the other sits back in silence.

[bzmomo7]

I am just going to have my company send my check to the gov. They need it more than me. They can use it for better stuff than me taking care of my family. Maybe it can go straight to Hamas. I think this woman will get alot of money from the Oprah's and the Dr. Phil's.

Isn't that what they want? That way they can take the bulk of what you earn, and give you back only what they think you "need" through all of their gov't programs. :roll I read this article on the octuplet mom today before coming to OB. It just makes me sick, and like John pointed out, it makes me sick to hear how many people are demanding that her kids be taken away! I'd like to know how they think her intelligent manipulation of the system makes her an unfit mother. It's not like she broke one of their laws. I'd say she's a pretty smart cookie. It isn't right, of course, but this is exactly what happens when the gov't takes over everything and becomes an enabler to those who don't like to work. What they need to fix is their system of handouts......you can be sure if the system were not in place the way it is.....she would not have done what she did. I'm sure that what will happen instead will be that the democrats in control will work to push measures that will severely limit fertility treatments as a whole, require them to terminate when "too many" are produced, and quite possibly move toward China's mentality of getting gov't approval or limitation of who can have children and when. And why not? They regulate (or make you get a permit for) everything else......What I'm curious to know is whether or not this woman was born here in America.

[John81]

I wouldn't be surprised to eventually see renewed calls for couples, or just women, to have to take classes before being approved to have children. This has come up from time to time and liberals would love to have such control.

[John81]

Octuplets' mom seeks online donations

Octuplets' mom seeks online donations - CNN.com
(CNN) -- Nadya Suleman, the single mother of newborn octuplets, is using the Internet to help support her family of 14 children. She's started a Web site seeking donations.

The Web site features pictures of a rainbow, child's blocks and all eight of Suleman's newborns. Also prominently displayed on the Web site is a prompt for visitors to make a donation, noting that the "proud mother of 14" accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and PayPal.

Suleman, 33, had the octuplets through fertility treatments, despite already having six young children and no clear source of income.

In recent television interviews, Suleman has rejected suggestions that she might not be able to care adequately for all 14 of her children.

"I'm providing myself to my children," Nadya Suleman told NBC in her first interview. "I'm loving them unconditionally, accepting them unconditionally, everything I do. I'll stop my life for them and be present with them and hold them and be with them. And how many parents do that?" Watch report on who is paying the bills for the octuplets

[bzmomo7]

I wouldn't be surprised to eventually see renewed calls for couples' date=' or just women, to have to take classes before being approved to have children. This has come up from time to time and liberals would love to have such control.[/quote']

Oh, I'm sure. They might start such a thing with their gov't hand-out program first. You know, something else that makes me irritated about this stuff is that this woman apparently has went into hiding with her other kids because she (and her publicist) are receiving death threats. What is wrong with people? Why would people send death threats? It seems to me that the real reason most are mad at this woman (if they'd be honest) is not because they believe what she did was wrong, so much as they are mad that SHE got something they didn't and it isn't "fair". Our society is soooooo mixed up. If any of those little ones doesn't make it, you know there will be a bunch of heartless people who will be happy.

One other thing about this story is, I saw someone point out that the media has some blame in this scenario too because they overpublicize these multiple births and families like the Duggar's (Christian family with 18 kids, have their own website, write their own books etc.) and give them an opportunity to profit from the publicity. I thought he had a good point. What do you all make of that? I have a big family, but I sure don't want the gov't or the media anywhere near me!

[John81]

The media has manipulated this story as well. They began their reporting as if a miracle had occured. Then as soon as they found a possible means to pounce on this woman, and keep this easy for them to report story going, they turned on her.

Where are the feminists who constantly proclaim a woman has a right to do anything she wants and has the right to have as many children as she wants out of wedlock and always advocate for more government hand-outs to single mothers? Hypocrits!