𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐈𝐃 𝐏𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐄𝐗𝐎𝐑𝐂𝐈𝐒𝐌S, 𝐈𝐍-𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐅𝐒, 𝐆𝐘𝐌 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏𝐒 — 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐀𝐁

 

SE𝐍 𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐃𝐘: 𝐂𝐀 𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐈𝐃 𝐏𝐀𝐘𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐄𝐗𝐎𝐑𝐂𝐈𝐒𝐌𝐒, 𝐈𝐍-𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐅𝐒, 𝐆𝐘𝐌 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏𝐒 — 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐀𝐁

“𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘢 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘺 𝘢 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳 — 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘦 — 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘮𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳.” — 𝘚𝘦𝘯. 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘒𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘥𝘺 𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨

Kennedy’s hearing math: 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐚 𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐬 𝐮𝐩 $𝟏, 𝐟𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐬 𝐮𝐩 $𝟗, so CA “sees this as free money” and 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲. The list he read into the record:

— Tribal prayers

— Exorcisms

— Herbal medicines, meal deliveries

— Housing

— In-home chefs (when the chef is a family member)

— Gymnasium fees, gym memberships

— Food stamps via Medicaid

— Bicycles, scooters

— Student loan repayment

𝐍𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞. They are services California wanted to fund, attached to a Medicaid bill because the federal match is the cheapest financing source in the state budget.

This is the working definition of spending porn — the moral hazard of any federal program where the state controls the spending but federal taxpayers pay the bill.

$𝟏 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐀 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐲𝐬 $𝟗 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐱𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐦.