Film Screening 

# *SHUFFLE*

### Directed by Benjamin Flaherty 

##### Watch the Event 

Download:

[ 

Video 

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[ 

Audio 

](https://feeds.acast.com/public/streams/5e2e15a046f4465f31c89d8c/episodes/6942f21b3d3b907dc0cacd15.mp3) 

Submit questions in the comment box on this page. For event updates, follow [@CatoInstitute](https://x.com/catoinstitute) on X. If you have questions about the event or your registration, please email [events@​cato.​org](mailto:events@cato.org).

Date and Time 

December 16, 2025 3:30 - 7:30 PM EST 

Location 

Cato Institute, 1000 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC 

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##### Featuring 

![Benjamin Flaherty - cropped - circle](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2025-11/Flaherty-cropped.jpg?itok=yUKV4mz_) 

Benjamin Flaherty 

Filmmaker, Bleach Films, Austin, Texas

![b-Blase-cropped.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-08/b-Blase-cropped.jpg?itok=o_iIGmGJ) 

Brian Blase 

President, Paragon Health Institute

[ 

](https://twitter.com/brian_blase) 

[![Michael F. Cannon](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Michael%20Cannon.jpg?itok=0UROn8Dc)](/people/michael-f-cannon) 

[Michael F. Cannon](/people/michael-f-cannon)

Director of Health Policy Studies, Cato Institute

[ 

](https://x.com/mfcannon) [ 

](mailto:mcannon@cato.org) 

[![jeff-singer-cropped.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2024-05/jeff-singer-cropped.jpg?itok=G_0nEnx7)](/people/jeffrey-singer) 

[Jeffrey A. Singer](/people/jeffrey-singer)

Senior Fellow, Cato Institute

[ 

](https://x.com/dr4liberty) [ 

](mailto:jsinger@cato.org) 

***\**** **The film screening is in‐​person only and will not be livestreamed. However, the post-screening discussion will be in‐​person and livestreamed.**

Winner of the Grand Prize for Documentary at the 2025 South by Southwest Film Festival, *Shuffle* is filmmaker Benjamin Flaherty’s powerful exposé of unintended consequences in American health policy. Through intimate portraits of people seeking recovery from opioid addiction, Flaherty reveals how federal mandates—particularly within the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid—have unintentionally enabled predatory rehab operators to turn human suffering into revenue streams. The federal mandates are likely even increasing and subsidizing suffering, rather than reducing it.

Join us for a screening of *Shuffle* in the Cato Institute’s F. A. Hayek Auditorium, followed by a discussion of what the film uncovers about the incentives that are shaping America’s addiction-treatment system and how policymakers, clinicians, and advocates can work toward more effective solutions.

##### Trailer for *Shuffle* 

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#### Schedule

3:30 - 4:00 PM 

**Registration**

4:00 - 5:30 PM 

**Film Screening**

5:30 - 6:30 PM 

**Discussion and Q&A**

6:30 - 7:30 PM 

**Reception**

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).