Medicaid for Herbs and Housing

HHS expands the program for unproven ‘healing services’ and housing subsidies

WSJ editorial. 

"The Biden Administration is trying to woo Native Americans whose votes could be pivotal in Western states. One pre-election gambit is to let Medicaid pay for Native American “traditional medicine.”

The Health and Human Services Department last month approved requests by Arizona, California, New Mexico and Oregon to use federal Medicaid funds to cover “traditional health care practices” of indigenous people. “We are extending access to culturally appropriate, quality health care in Tribal communities,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.

HHS says the Medicaid approvals are “the latest action demonstrating the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to support and invest in Indigenous communities across the country.” In short, this looks like another income redistribution scheme.

HHS doesn’t plan to restrict the types of traditional medicine that Medicaid will cover, nor the types of “healers.” Each tribal “facility can tailor provider qualifications for their traditional health care practitioners,” HHS says.

An American Medical Association brief on the state Medicaid proposals says “traditional healers are often identified in their Tribal community by their innate gift of healing” and “typically work informally.” Their “healing services” could include sweat lodges, prayers, purification rituals, songs, dance, herbal remedies and shamanism.

One healer who advocated for Medicaid coverage told the Salt Lake Tribune in February that he sometimes prescribes a “special ceremony against the negative energy of diabetes.” Herbs, he said, are also a favorite remedy for chronic illnesses including cancer plus a “special expression of prayer to the deities that made those herbs.”

Herbal remedies may have their uses, but Medicaid is supposed to cover evidence-based treatments. HHS says “demonstration projects” can determine if traditional medicine improves health outcomes. But lack of access to modern medical care—not lack of traditional remedies—is why Native Americans suffer more disease and worse health outcomes.

If the Administration wants to improve health for Native Americans, it could start by fixing the Indian Health Service. Instead, it’s burdening already beleaguered Medicaid. Many physicians don’t see Medicaid patients because payment rates don’t cover their costs, and patients often struggle to get timely and appropriate treatment.

The ObamaCare expansion for healthy, working-age adults is also squeezing state budgets. HHS and states are trying to reduce Medicaid costs by putting up road blocks to gene therapies for disorders like sickle-cell disease, though these will reduce spending over time. Medicaid will pay for herbs, but not novel cures.

Meantime, the Administration is letting states use federal Medicaid dollars to pay for low-income housing, mini-refrigerators and food. A Biden executive order last month gave states a green light to use Medicaid to pay for “gun violence prevention” counseling. No wonder Medicaid costs are ballooning.

Federal Medicaid spending totaled $617.5 billion in the last fiscal year, more than the $567 billion estimate in the President’s budget. States and the feds are spending $944 billion combined on Medicaid, up from $854 billion a year ago, despite the end of the pandemic emergency expansion. Insurers that manage state Medicaid programs say patients are getting sicker. Herbs and dance won’t help them or the program’s finances."