“If you need an exorcism, you can go to California,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told acting Attorney General Todd Blanche at a Senate hearing on Medicaid fraud.
“That's the definition of spending porn,” Sen. Kennedy wrote on X.com, posting video from Tuesday’s hearing, in which he noted that California's Medicaid program also pays for things like tribal prayers, herbal medicines, housing, in-home chefs and student loans.
“California will actually pay a healthcare provider – I didn’t know this was a medical expertise – to pay for exorcisms,” Sen. Kennedy told Blanche.
The problem, Kennedy said, is that politicians in states like California are “putting up one dollar and the American taxpayer’s putting up nine dollars” to fund their Medicaid programs, so “they see this as free money.”
As a result, California and some other states simply expand the types of services they cover, leading to taxpayer funding of dubious medical benefits, Kennedy said. “California has allowed thousands and thousands of these social assistance and so-called healthcare providers” to cash in on the state’s Medicaid program – turning it into “a tier-one slush fund,” the senator said.
This proliferation of Medicaid-covered providers has doubled California’s taxpayer-funded spending on its program in recent years, Fox News reports:
“Medi-Cal’s spending practices have faced growing scrutiny as California’s Medicaid spending has more than doubled since 2019, rising from roughly $100.7 billion to a projected $222 billion in 2026.”
“When you’re spending other people’s money, it’s real easy,” Sen. Kennedy explained.
