A new study estimates that by restricting access to services, certificate-of-need laws increase the number of heart-attack deaths by as much as 10%.
There are plenty of places to eat in your town. There is no wait to speak of, either. But the local eateries just aren’t that appetizing. The food really isn’t that good; the service, less than ideal. Hence, when desiring a good meal out, you, and many of your neighbors, usually elect to make the...
A recent academic study also found that nursing homes in places subject to certificate-of-need laws had higher incidence of COVID-19 than in places where providers are free to compete.
Cases involving a high-profile political activist and a controversial state medical regulation await the N.C. Court of Appeals as it returns to regular in-person hearings this week. The state’s second-highest court announced recently that it will resume its regular schedule of in-person oral arguments with the start of its fall session. Three-judge Appeals Court panels...
The purpose of the certificate-of-need law, according to the state health department, is to restrict “unnecessary cost increases” and “limit unnecessary services” in health care across the state. But it may do the opposite, limiting access and stifling competition. The law prohibits health care providers from acquiring, replacing, or adding to their facilities and equipment,...
Improving access to health care is about more than who pays the bill. It’s about the size of that bill, and who possesses the information and the incentives to make decisions about it.
The Senate is close to approving a trio of health care bills aimed at reducing costs and increasing transparency in the system. The bills would help curb surprise billing and ease restrictive laws that prevent health care companies from increasing supply. But they fall short of more substantial changes some policy experts have pushed. “Health...
Legislation introduced in this session of the General Assembly seeks to reduce restrictions created by certificate of need laws, which critics say reduce access to health care and increase costs. Bills in the General Assembly have been filed with the intention of doing everything from making minor changes to complete repeal. Certificate of need laws...
Certificate of Need laws have ruined governors and exiled the wealthy and the powerful to federal prison. Millions of dollars have changed hands, and more than a few political campaigns have been fueled by corruption in the CON system. CON laws are the reason hundreds of cardiac patients couldn’t get care in Maui, forcing doctors to fly critical patients to Honolulu....
A coal miners’ son. A powerful attorney. A defeated surgeon. Two college sweethearts. All of them became caught up in a powerful system known as Certificate of Need. Certificate of Need laws give the state control of medical resources. Twenty-five people, an advisory board appointed by the governor, oversee the supply of hospital beds, medical equipment, and...
In North Carolina, we make it far too difficult for new providers to enter the marketplace. We squash competition and innovation. As a result, we make health-care costs unnecessarily high.
