A Biden-era Medicaid policy is funneling your tax dollars to Native American shamans in California who "treat" drug addicts with rituals, spiritual dances, and drum circles. At a rate of $826 per day. Per patient. Through the same Medicaid program that's supposedly going broke.

You cannot make this up. Actually, scratch that — if someone told you California was paying shamans nearly a grand a day to bang on drums while fentanyl addicts swayed in a circle, you'd absolutely believe it. Because of course they are.

Here's how we got here. On October 16, 2024, the Biden administration's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved Section 1115 waiver demonstrations in four states — California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon — allowing Medicaid to cover "traditional healing practices" provided by tribal facilities and Urban Indian Organizations. We're talking sweat lodges, smudging ceremonies, talking circles, and yes, drum circles. All billed to the American taxpayer.

California's version is run through something called the Drug Medi-Cal Organized Delivery System, which means it's specifically designed to treat substance use disorders. Not general wellness. Not cultural enrichment. This is the state's official answer to the worst drug crisis in American history: spiritual dances and ancient rituals, courtesy of Governor Gavin Newsom's Medicaid apparatus.

And here's the kicker, the practitioners running these sessions don't need any standardized national certification. That's right. There's no credential requirement. Each facility gets to determine its own "practitioner qualifications" and just document their methodology. So literally anyone the facility designates as a traditional healer can bill Medicaid at $826 a day to shake a rattle over someone who's dying of a fentanyl overdose.

The federal government picks up the tab at a 100% federal match for American Indian and Alaska Native patients receiving services through Indian Health Service and tribal facilities. One hundred percent. Every single dollar comes from Washington. Which means every single dollar comes from you.

Meanwhile, actual addiction treatment centers — the ones with licensed doctors, evidence-based medications like Suboxone and methadone, real clinical protocols — are struggling with funding and wait lists. But sure, let's prioritize drum circles.

Four states are now on board with this program. California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Oregon. Notice a pattern? Every single one run by Democrats when the waivers were approved. Shocked? Neither are we.

The Biden administration approved these waivers claiming they were "developed in partnership with Tribal leaders through formal Tribal consultation processes, public comment periods, and advisory groups." Translation: bureaucrats held meetings with other bureaucrats and decided your money should pay for smudging ceremonies instead of rehab beds.

Look, nobody's against Native American cultural traditions. Practice whatever you want on your own time with your own money. But when you're billing the federal government $826 a day to treat a crisis that killed over 100,000 Americans last year, maybe — just maybe — we should demand something with a little more clinical evidence than a drum circle.

This is Biden's legacy. This is what "follow the science" looks like when Democrats are in charge. And this program is still running right now, draining Medicaid dollars while the current administration hasn't lifted a finger to shut it down.

Fix it or own it. There's no third option.