Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., pressed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche during a Senate hearing Tuesday over California's taxpayer-funded Medicaid program covering exorcisms and other spiritual healing practices, and demanded to know why the federal government has allowed it to continue.
Kennedy zeroed in on Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, which in 2024 expanded coverage for recipients seeking traditional healers and "natural helpers" within tribal communities. The services covered by taxpayer dollars include music therapy and spiritual interventions such as ceremonies, rituals, and herbal remedies, Fox News Digital reported.
The Louisiana Republican did not mince words. Kennedy told Blanche that California, home to roughly 12 percent of the nation's population, is responsible for half of the new providers offering these kinds of services.
"They're responsible for half of these new so-called health providers to provide exorcisms and other things. Now, what the h*** are we doing about it? Why has this gone on for so long?"
The exchange raised a question that taxpayers across the country might reasonably ask: How did a state Medicaid program, already under federal scrutiny for suspected fraud, end up bankrolling spiritual ceremonies and rituals?
The numbers behind California's Medicaid expansion tell their own story. Since 2019, Medi-Cal spending has more than doubled, climbing from roughly $100.7 billion to a projected $222 billion in 2026. That trajectory alone would attract federal attention. But the details of what the money pays for have sharpened the scrutiny considerably.
Reports that California provides Medicaid coverage for exorcisms and other spiritual rituals were first published by The Wall Street Journal. The 2024 expansion, signed off by Gov. Gavin Newsom, opened Medi-Cal to traditional healers and natural helpers within tribal communities.
To qualify as a traditional healer under the state's rules, a person must have served as a spiritual leader within an American Indian tribe for at least two years and hold a contract with an Indian Health Care Provider. The bar for a "natural helper" is lower, it can apply to anyone considered a "trusted" member of an American Indian tribe.
Newsom framed the expansion as a matter of historical justice. His office said the coverage was aimed at "helping heal the historical wounds inflicted on tribes."
"Like many of the issues that plague successive generations of Native people, those inequities can be traced back to the historical atrocities the U.S. inflicted on tribes across the country. By supporting greater access to traditional medicine and healing, we are taking another step toward a healthier, brighter future."
That is the governor's stated rationale. Whether federal taxpayers should fund spiritual ceremonies, rituals, and herbal remedies through Medicaid is a different question, one Kennedy clearly thinks Sacramento has answered incorrectly.
The hearing did not happen in a vacuum. Just last week, the Trump administration suspended $1.4 billion in federal funding for California home health and hospice programs. The suspension came after Vice President JD Vance's anti-fraud task force identified an estimated $600 million in suspected fraud within California's Medicaid system.
That finding has not resulted in proven fraud charges, and the specifics of which cases or providers are implicated have not been publicly detailed. But the scale of the suspected waste, $600 million, gives context to Kennedy's frustration over a system that simultaneously funds exorcisms and faces allegations of rampant billing abuse.
The California Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to Fox News Digital's questions by the time of publication. That silence speaks for itself when a state is spending north of $200 billion in Medicaid funds and facing pointed questions from both a U.S. senator and the Department of Justice.
Kennedy's confrontation with the acting attorney general fits a broader pattern of the senator holding officials accountable on matters where federal dollars meet questionable state-level decisions.
One notable gap in the public record: Todd Blanche's response. Fox News Digital's account of the hearing does not include any direct quotes from the acting attorney general in reply to Kennedy's pointed questioning. Whether Blanche offered assurances, deflected, or acknowledged the problem remains unclear from available reporting.
That gap matters. The Department of Justice sits at the center of any federal enforcement action against Medicaid fraud. If the acting AG cannot or will not explain what the federal government plans to do about a state program that has doubled its budget while covering spiritual rituals and accumulating hundreds of millions in suspected fraud, taxpayers deserve to know why.
The hearing also comes as Senate Republicans push forward on major spending priorities, making the question of where federal dollars go, and who is minding the store, all the more pressing.
California's Medi-Cal controversy is not an isolated episode. Medicaid spending and oversight have become flashpoints on Capitol Hill, with both parties jockeying over how the program should be funded, regulated, and reformed. Democrats have used Medicaid as a political weapon against Republican senators, even as state-level programs like Medi-Cal face mounting questions about waste and mismanagement.
Kennedy's line of questioning Tuesday cut to a specific absurdity: a government health insurance program designed to serve low-income Americans is now covering exorcisms. Whatever one thinks about the value of traditional tribal healing, the question of whether it belongs on the federal Medicaid tab is a legitimate policy debate, one that Sacramento has tried to settle by invoking historical grievances rather than medical evidence.
The Newsom administration's framing is revealing. The governor did not argue that these services produce measurable health outcomes. He argued they address "historical wounds" and "atrocities." That is a political and moral argument, not a healthcare argument. And it is being funded with money drawn from a program already struggling under the weight of its own growth.
Meanwhile, the partisan temperature in the Senate continues to rise on multiple fronts. Democrats have escalated confrontations with the DOJ over other matters, even as Republicans press the department to crack down on state-level misuse of federal funds.
Several important facts remain unknown. How much has Medi-Cal actually spent on services provided by traditional healers and natural helpers since the 2024 expansion? Which billing codes or waiver documents authorize these payments? And what specific enforcement steps, if any, has the Justice Department taken or planned beyond the $1.4 billion funding suspension?
Kennedy's questions were sharp. The answers, so far, have been absent.
California's Medicaid budget has ballooned from $100 billion to a projected $222 billion in seven years. The state's health department won't return calls. The governor's defense rests on historical guilt, not medical science. And federal investigators have flagged $600 million in suspected fraud. If there was ever a program begging for a hard look, this is it.
When a government program meant to provide healthcare for the poor is paying for exorcisms, the system isn't broken. It was steered off the road on purpose, and the people holding the wheel owe taxpayers a better answer than silence.
