Opinion
It’s past time for NC to can CON laws
If you are tired of the same thing being done over and over again and expecting different results, reach out to your representatives at the General Assembly and let your voice be heard!
Opinion
Hospitals should battle in the marketplace, not the courtroom
Are there issues with Medicaid reimbursement rates hurting hospital bottom lines? Sure. But these costs should be out in the open so they can be dealt with honestly, not hidden behind monopoly schemes.
Opinion
School choice was a prudent wager
Proponents believe our school-choice policies will help North Carolina recover lost ground. In the coming years, experience will test this prediction.
Opinion
Central planning fails in health care
We live and work in a mostly free economy — but a spate of year-end stories demonstrated a prominent exception. Triad Business Journal reported that Novant Health, based in Winston-Salem, sought permission to build a $249 million hospital in Asheville focused on cancer treatment. Its application was denied in favor of a rival proposal from...
Opinion
Dispelling the myth of ‘greedflation’
If the most recent spell of inflation was incited by greed, it was not that of corporations. It was the greed of the government.
Opinion
Carolinas will test new hospital rules
Hospitals are among the most heavily regulated institutions in America. Over the next half-decade or so, North and South Carolina will test two contrasting models for expanding choice and competition in this critical sector. As part of last year’s agreement between the North Carolina General Assembly and Gov. Roy Cooper to expand our Medicaid program,...
Opinion
Economics is about more than inflation and recession
Every time there is trouble looming for the economy, my schedule of presentations and interviews explode. It happened during my 40-plus years on the NCSU faculty, and it still happens in my retirement, as I continue to interact with groups and the media. I’m seeing the same reactions today with worries about inflation and recession. Certainly, I...
Opinion
Patients deserve more choice of hospitals
Asheville’s Mission Hospital will soon have a new competitor in Western North Carolina. That’s good news: when a single hospital system dominates a market, that rarely works to the advantage of patients, employers, or physicians. The bad news here, however, is that it was a state agency that chose which hospital network will build the...
Opinion
When schools compete, students win
Few of us would prefer to live in a community where there’s only one place to buy our groceries or clothing, one restaurant to get a bite, one channel to watch, one doctor to visit, or one lawyer to hire.
Opinion
State should let hospitals compete
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%.
Opinion
CON laws are too risky
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.
Opinion
CON blocks health care consumers from reaping benefits of competition
Instead of duking it out for customers, two regional health care giants will vie for a government permission slip.
