More than 100 people attended the North Carolina Department of Labor’s two public hearings on Tuesday to consider re-implementing masking and social distancing requirements for businesses.
When it comes to regulating nurses, North Carolina is in an increasingly exclusive club. Unfortunately, the cost of our club membership far exceeds any benefits. In most states, nurse practitioners and other advanced-practice nurses have significant authority to treat patients without being subject to the authority of a physician. In Virginia, for example, they enjoy...
North Carolina is about to become the 40th state to expand its Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act. The bill drew huge, bipartisan majorities of legislators. Republican leaders resisted expansion for years, arguing that the promise of permanent 90% funding from Washington was either implausible or fiscally irresponsible. They no longer feel that way....
Sally Pipes, president and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute, explains why conservatives should support a “personal option” for addressing health care access. Pipes also urges North Carolina to steer clear of Medicaid expansion.
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...
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,...
There are the numbers associated with the biennial budget proposal from the N.C. Senate, of course, but, as with most budgets, the numbers are sometimes associated with policy initiatives wrapped into the spending plan. This budget cycle is no exception. With ‘Health and Human Services’ being one of the single largest budget outlays, health care...
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....
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include a clarification from NC Blue Cross & Blue Shield. Dr. Bruce Schroeder couldn’t give the best treatment to women with breast cancer. State regulations blocked him from buying up-to-date mammogram machines. Under certificate-of-need laws, Schroeder had to get state permission before buying the machines. Schroeder couldn’t...
