California Governor Gavin Newsom has managed to outdo himself again, and that is saying something.
The man never seems to meet a taxpayer dollar he is not eager to torch, and this time, he has done it under the warm glow of “helping children.”
The latest fiasco involves a state-funded pediatric hearing aid program that has managed to spend nearly twenty-three million dollars while delivering only a few hundred hearing aids. Lawmakers and child advocates are absolutely fuming over the waste, and Californians are once again left holding the bill.
Five years ago, rather than backing legislation that would have forced private insurers to cover hearing aids for children, Newsom opted for a state-run fix.
The result has been precisely what every conservative predicted: a bloated bureaucracy that devours funds while doing next to nothing for the very people it is supposed to help.
According to state reports, the Hearing Aid Coverage for Children Program has around three hundred active enrollees.
That means each case has effectively cost the state about seventy six thousand dollars.
In the private market, that amount could have purchased thousands of hearing aids instead of footing the bill for more public sector “administration.”
Hellbound and Down 