'Taxpayer-Funded Drum Circles': Biden-Era Policy Gives Native American Shamans Medicaid Dollars To T

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'Taxpayer-Funded Drum Circles': Biden-Era Policy Gives Native American Shamans Medicaid Dollars To Treat California Drug Addicts With Rituals, Dances
'Indigenous Knowledge' pseudoscience continues to thrive in Gov. Gavin Newsom's California
by Andrew Kerr
June 5, 2026

The federal government's Medicaid program is paying Native American shamans in California $826 a day to perform ancient rituals such as drum circles and spiritual dances to treat drug and alcohol addicts. The alternative treatments are part of Democratic governor Gavin Newsom's embrace of "indigenous knowledge," a pseudoscience that claims Native Americans have mystical healing powers that transcend the realm of traditional medicine.

The Biden Department of Health & Human Services gave its approval in October 2024 for California to reimburse Native American "Traditional Healers" with federal Medicaid dollars to treat addicts by drawing on their innate knowledge of ancestral healing rites. The treatments are an effort to combat alcohol and drug addiction in the Native American community, which has a significantly higher rate of substance use disorder than the general population.

Since then, 21 Indian Health Care Providers across the state have enrolled in the program, with the California Department of Health Care Services offering $826 per day to unlicensed "Traditional Healers" and "Natural Helpers" to host spiritual ceremonies, rituals, herbal remedies, and musical drum and dancing therapy for addicts.

But there's little evidence these ancestral rituals are effective in helping Native Americans and other patients to recover from their drug and alcohol addiction, with some studies showing the alternative treatments may actually be harmful. One study reviewed by the National Institutes of Health found that a significant portion of participants in a Native American Drum Circle study reported drinking more alcohol than usual after participating in the intervention. ...

Full story at Free Beacon