New Attack Ad Targets Roger Marshall's History

{ "articleTitle": "New Attack Ad Targets Roger Marshall's History", "articleDescription": "A new campaign advertisement highlights Sen. Roger Marshall’s past medical-debt collection practices, featuring a former patient who alleges she was arrested in 2011 for missing a $50 payment. The ad is part of an escalating exchange in the Kansas Senate race between Marshall and Democratic opponent Adam Hamilton.", "articleBody": "

Ad Highlights Medical Debt Collection Disputes

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A new campaign advertisement is focusing on Sen. Roger Marshall’s history of aggressive medical-debt collection, featuring former patient Meischa Zimmerman who alleges she was arrested in 2011 after missing a $50 payment.

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The ad, which has been circulated by Democratic opponent Adam Hamilton’s campaign, includes footage of Zimmerman describing the incident. She stated that police arrived at her home while she was eight months pregnant and had a two-year-old daughter present.

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\"One evening, I see [police] lights, I open the door, and it’s a police officer,\" Zimmerman says in the advertisement. \"They arrested me because I didn’t make a $50 payment to Roger Marshall.\"

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Zimmerman continued in the ad, \"I was eight months pregnant. And I said, 'Please do not handcuff me in front of my two-year-old daughter.'\"

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According to the advertisement, Marshall’s medical practice sued more than 700 patients over unpaid bills. The ad further alleges that at least 81 individuals were arrested after failing to appear in court related to those debts.

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Zimmerman told The New York Times that she owed $3,596 for a C-section and had agreed to a $50 monthly payment plan. She stated that she sometimes had to choose between paying the bill and keeping her electricity on.

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\"I had to choose whether I’d pay my electricity or pay $50 to a doctor who didn’t need it,\" Zimmerman said in the report. The advertisement also notes that Marshall was charging her 18% interest on the outstanding debt.

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Marshall Launches Counter-Attack on Hamilton

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The release of the ad comes as Sen. Roger Marshall has launched his own attack advertisements against Democratic opponent Adam Hamilton. According to the Sunflower State Journal, Marshall’s campaign accused Hamilton of selling \"snake oil\" to Kansans.

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In ads introduced on a Friday, Marshall portrayed Hamilton as a \"stalking horse\" for \"big city liberals who hate our way of life.\" The advertisement also referred to Hamilton as a \"millionaire mega church CEO with four homes,\" according to the Sunflower State Journal.

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These advertisements followed accusations by a pro-Hamilton super PAC that Marshall blocked the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, as reported by MS