Medi-Cal expanded coverage for tribal spiritual interventions, ceremonies, and herbal remedies in 2024.
By Catholics for Catholics
Want a Native-American “exorcism?” Go to California, where taxpayer-funded Medicaid will pay for it.
On Tuesday, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., inveighed against California’s Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, which is being inspected by the Trump administration over fraud allegations, as Kennedy highlighted reports during a Tuesday hearing that the state covers “exorcisms” and other faith-based healing practices, according to a story by Fox News.
The issue is that Medi-Cal’s spending ways have encountered more probes as California’s Medicaid expenditures have more than doubled since 2019, rising from roughly $100.7 billion to a projected $222 billion in 2026.
The Trump administration last week suspended $1.4 billion in federal funding for California home health and hospice programs after Vice President JD Vance’s anti-fraud task force identified an estimated $600 million in suspected fraud within the state’s Medicaid system.
𝐒𝐄𝐍 𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐃𝐘: 𝐂𝐀 𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐈𝐃 𝐏𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐄𝐗𝐎𝐑𝐂𝐈𝐒𝐌𝐒, 𝐈𝐍-𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐅𝐒, 𝐆𝐘𝐌 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏𝐒 — 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐀𝐁
— M.A. Rothman (@MichaelARothman) May 19, 2026
“𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘢 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘺 𝘢 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳 —… pic.twitter.com/ZvlWVln10P
But some of the use of the money can get, well, weird. Kennedy alleged during his line of questioning to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that taxpayer dollars were being used to cover the cost of “exorcisms,” a religious practice most commonly associated with the Catholic Church, as well as other indigenous spiritual practices.
“California’s got 12% of the population in the last 10 years,” Kennedy told Blanche. “They’re responsible for half of these new so-called health providers to provide “exorcisms” and other things. Now, what the hell are we doing about it? Why has this gone on for so long?”
A spokesperson for California Health and Human Services Agency denied that Medi-Cal covered “exorcisms.”
“It does cover federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)-approved Traditional Health Care Practices, which are defined, identified, and credentialed by each Native American Tribe, Nation, Band, or Rancheria, and are rooted in cultural knowledge that has supported healing for generations,” a spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
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