Nadya Suleman has 14 children, including newborn octuplets. She has no job, no income and owes $50,000 in student loans.

Still, the 33-year-old Whittier woman said she's confident that she can afford to raise her huge family, insisting she can do it without welfare. In an interview Tuesday with NBC, she said she could use student loans to make ends meet until she finishes graduate school and gets a job.


But Suleman faces what are likely to be millions of dollars in medical bills alone, and it's increasingly likely that taxpayers will foot many of those bills.

Her family is eligible for large sums of public assistance money. Even before she gave birth to the octuplets Jan. 26, Suleman was receiving $490 in monthly food stamps, and three of her children were receiving federal supplemental security income because they are disabled.

Lowell Kepke, a spokesman for the San Francisco office of the Social Security Administration, said that a single parent with no income qualifies for up to $793 a month for each child with a physical or mental condition that results in "marked or severe functional limitations." That money is used for support and maintenance of the family, and Suleman would not be required to specifically account for how it is spent.


If Suleman's disabled children received the maximum payment, she would get nearly $2,900 a month in state and federal assistance, including the food stamps.

Suleman's octuplets qualify for Medi-Cal, California's healthcare program for the poor. Three sources told The Times that Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Bellflower had requested reimbursement for care of the eight premature infants.

Reimbursement rates for the octuplets were not immediately available. However, 2007 records show that Southern California hospitals received an average of $1,198 per day, per patient.

Tony Cava, a spokesman for the California Department of Health Care Services, said that for a baby in a hospital's neonatal intensive care unit, that amount would probably increase.

Using the 2007 average as a low estimate, Kaiser would be eligible for a combined $9,584 per day in Medi-Cal reimbursement. The babies, who are 16 days old, have already racked up a conservative $153,344 in Medi-Cal costs, not including their delivery. Kaiser doctors have said they will remain hospitalized for seven to 12 weeks. If they stay for seven weeks, the cost would be $469,616. If they stay 12 weeks, the cost would be $805,056.

Kaiser gathered 46 doctors, nurses and other medical professionals together to perform the delivery. It's unclear how much that cost and who will pay.

Suleman told NBC that she planned to go back to Cal State Fullerton, where she is earning a master's degree in counseling. Once she receives the degree, she said, she will get a job and be able to financially support the children.

Suleman used to work as a psychiatric technician at Metropolitan State Hospital, where she suffered an injury in 1999. During a riot involving 20 people, a patient overturned a heavy wooden desk on her back. After the incident, Suleman only briefly returned to work and she continued to experience ongoing back problems from a herniated disc.

Between 2000 and 2008, she received $169,353 in temporary disability payments, a workers' compensation spokeswoman said.

Her workers' compensation file, obtained by The Times, indicates that a doctor hired by the state to evaluate her believes she is now eligible for permanent disability. The state stopped making temporary disability payments Aug. 28. But the records show that she would receive payment for permanent disability. State officials said no determination has been made yet about the amount or duration of her payments.

Suleman insisted to NBC's Ann Curry in an interview taped Tuesday that she's not seeking a public handout.

"I'm not living off any taxpayer money," she said. "If I am, if it's food stamps, it's a temporary resource. And I was so reluctant. I very much so look forward to the day when I am not getting any kind of help with food stamps, which I believe will end when I graduate in about a year or year and a half."

Suleman also said she hopes that two of her children will soon no longer be disabled.

She said she has $50,000 in student loans that she will eventually have to repay.

Suleman also bristled at suggestions made by some commentators that she was being irresponsible for having so many children with no income or partner to help raise them.

"No. I am not being selfish. . . . If I were just sitting down watching TV and not being as determined as I am to succeed and provide a better future for my children, I believe that would be considered to a certain degree selfish," she said.

Suleman said she was married once. But the relationship ended when she realized "that I wasn't in love at all with him. I was in love with having children."

Suleman's ex-husband, Marcos Gutierrez, a produce manager at a salad company, declined to comment extensively about his ex-wife but said she's a good person.

"Nadya, she is a person with a great heart. . . . She's a nice person, with great love for her kids. That's all I have to say," he said.

Meanwhile, medical experts continued to question Dr. Michael Kamrava, the fertility specialist believed to have treated Suleman. Although she did not mention him directly, she named his West Coast IVF Clinic in Beverly Hills as the place where she sought treatment.

Dr. R. Dale McClure, president of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, said the association has contacted both Suleman and Kamrava to learn more about the circumstances leading to her pregnancy.

"Only when we obtain and evaluate such information will we be able to determine an appropriate course of action," McClure said.

As for Suleman, she told NBC that she doesn't plan any more children. "100%. 200, 300 400%. Yes, done," she said.

Not this taxpayer!

And I haven't paid taxes for years ..I mean...nevermind!

NDRU said:

send the bills to the dr who implanted the embryos in the first place.

This is SUCH bullshit!!!

I rememver back when I didn't have employer benefits being an independent contractor, yet not being able to afford the out of pocket expenses and rising premiums for the individual policy I had. And of course, I made too much money to qualify for anything for my daughter.

California taxpayers.

Last I heard she had set up a website to accept donations.

Vendetta1 said:

What a fucking LEECH!!!

Vendetta1 said:

I can imagine the messages folks are leaving on her website.

uPtoWnNY said:

wow!

uPtoWnNY said:

The messages are not public.

from people.com
Octomom Now Accepting Cash & Credit Card Donations Online

By Mike Fleeman

Originally posted Wednesday February 11, 2009 03:45 PM EST
Octomom Now Accepting Cash & Credit Card Donations Online
Want to help a woman support 14 children, including octuplets? Just click on her new Web site – MasterCard, Visa, American Express and Discover all accepted.

The Nadya Suleman Family Web site provides a PayPal link for donations from the public, plus a street address to mail in money and items, care of Suleman's publicists.

Established on Tuesday afternoon by husband-and-wife reps Joann Killeen and Mike Furtney, who are working for free for the controversial Suleman (who is receiving food stamps and other public assistance), the site also has photos of the six boys and two girls as well as a page to send comments.

The reps wouldn't say how much money has come in so far, but that Suleman already has received offers for baby clothes and cribs – as well as offers of donations for her older six children.

"We're getting so many calls and people writing in," Killeen says. "It's nice to see so many people are opening up their closets and hearts."

• Additional reporting by JOHNNY DODD

missmad said:

uPtoWnNY said:

disbelief indeed considering all the people who are in dire circumstances in this country and abroad and this chick CHOOSES 2 have 14 kids not giving a damn about the consequences and has no quams bout asking others for help, rude and unbelievable!!!!!

Despite what you think of this Nadia woman, the kids are here and if people want to help them with food, clothing, bassinets, nursing care and whatever else a premie baby needs then carry on good samaritans. I'm just surprised they all made it. Her body looks fucked up tho. She's all hunch back with belly hang down. Her arms are gone with the wind.

She could have just did back to back twins two or three times. No sense in packing all those babies in there like sardines in a can. And another thing. Why is invitro and birth control pills not covered by insurance but Viagara is!!! Its all good as long as the dude gets his hard on and his jerk out but if the woman gets preggers you potentially end up with a Nadia? Why did this dude keep giving her man juice? And he didn't fight for parental rights or discourage her from having 6 to 8 more!! she's not the only crazy one in this story!

Everyone seems to be very harsh on this woman, you would think she murdered someone.
Do people want her babies to starve and have nothing??

PinkOrchid said:

Her babies have no bearing on this. Bringing that many people into the world when you don't have the means to support them is fucking irresponsible.

Now, if I were going to send her something, it'd be formula, diapers or clothes. Not a red cent.

Vendetta1 said:

agreed

There are so many underprivileged children in the world

She felt the need to add 14 more

I hope the babies get all they need though, but can't understand her thinking at all!

thekidsgirl said:

agreed.

prb said:

yep.

missmad said:

wasnt 6 enough already

missmad said:

I'm glad this story is getting so much publicity, because you KNOW there'll be legislation against shit like this in the future. Hopefully that dumbass Dr. Kamrava will lose his license.

uPtoWnNY said:

lets hope.

im not against big families, per se, but to have another 8 after already having 6 is just madness- especially without a partners support.

Look the children are here now, what are they gonna do, kill them? Peoples tax money has gone to a lot worst things than helping little children survive. I wish people would shut up about this already!!

prb said:

Plus the woman's not all there to begin with.

uPtoWnNY said:

all the more reason 4 the dr to be de-registered

How does someone living off food stamps, disability, and student loans afford in vitro in the first place?

meow85 said:

SHE HAD A JOB, GOT INJURED, THEN GOT SETTLEMENT MONEY AND DISABILITY. I WANNA KNOW HOW MUCH SHE PAID BABY DADDY!

DesireeNevermind said:

All her kids were conceived with in vitro. I can't think of any sort of non-upper class job that would garner THAT great a disability pay to take care of expenses for multiple pregnancies. Disability payments don't amount to much usually.

meow85 said:

in her interview she said she spent about a 100K on invitro. However in california the procedure generally runs 10-15K. Wasn't she only implanted 4 times? She sounded like all the eggs were taken then fertilized at once and the only procedure remaining was implantation. I agree, the dollars don't add up. My gut tells me the doc cut her a deal so she could be the first to have surviving octuplets. Betcha his practice is going to see a jump cuz there are alot of women who get turned away from in vitro cuz of age, being single, pre-existing health conditions etc.. But hell, if tom cruise can have a clone baby i guess this heffer can have a litter of eight.