Episode 6: An Overlooked Lesson of the Medi-Cal Crisis

California can't afford Medi-Cal. Between expanding the program to cover illegal immigrants, the rampant fraud, and multibillion-dollar overruns, Medi-Cal is in a full-blown financial and administrative crisis. Yet instead of confronting its spending problem, legislators in Sacramento are looking for more ways to collect money. A union-backed "Billionaire Tax" claims it will raise some one-time funds for health care, but new allegations suggest its real purpose may be using the ballot initiative process as leverage for union interests. In this episode, we examine a darker lesson of the Medi-Cal crisis: how government's incentives can encourage powerful players in health care to manipulate the political process, leverage the power of the state to influence sweeter negotiations, and leave taxpayers and patients footing the bill. For more on this topic, please visit the Benjamin Rush Institute Substack.