Gov. Newsom Loves Kids So Much He Spent $23M on 300 Child Hearing Aids

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is a wonderful guy. A man who truly loves helping children. So much so that he spent $23 million on hearing aids for 300 kids.

Nearly five years after Newsom pushed lawmakers toward a state-run alternative instead of requiring private insurers to cover pediatric hearing aids, California’s Hearing Aid Coverage for Children Program had around 300 active enrolled members despite spending almost $23 million, according to a report delivered last month to a state Senate budget committee. That works out to about $76,000 per person.

Even the most expensive pediatric hearing aids cost $6,000.

Where did all that money go? Much like the $24 billion in homeless spending or the train-to-nowhere currently budgeted at over $200 billion, it’s a mystery that probably ends in the pockets of the politically connected.

But to be fair to Gavin, things have gotten better for the Hearing Aid Coverage for Children Program over the last 5 years.

How much worse could it have been than 300 hearing aids for $23 million? Let’s go back to 2022.

A little over a year after California launched a program to provide hearing aids for an estimated 2,300 children annually who lack health insurance, it has provided devices to only 39 children.

In its first year, the Department of Health Care Services received $6.7 million to administer the program and $10 million for services like hearing screenings, earmolds and hearing aids.

So from spending $16.7 million for 39 kids, all the way up to $23 million for 300 kids. The fraud ratio is getting better, but Newsom should really let the Somalis manage the program. They’d have 3 billion kids on it in no time.