Left-leaning activists long have embraced the mantra, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”
Some Democrats already have proposed exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to reshape the nation in their vision.
The Institute for Justice believes the pandemic is the perfect time to get rid of the so-called certificate-of-need laws in many states.
The laws “artificially limit doctors, hospital administrators and other medical professionals’ ability to provide services in excess of a governmentally determined ‘need,'” the organization explains.
In a series of letters to governors, IJ attorneys are urging states to put patients first by eliminating CON laws. Doing so would not only greatly increase access to health care, it would unleash the ability of providers to pursue innovative services and treatments.
States that recently received the letters include Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia.
“Certificate of need laws are a major roadblock to medical care,” said Institute for Justice Attorney Jaimie Cavanaugh. “It shouldn’t have taken a pandemic for states to realize that limiting the ability of doctors and healthcare professionals to provide services is a bad policy, but it did. Thankfully, some states have already waived certain CON laws, but many more remain in place. As we begin to engage with state policy makers, we’re hopeful these laws will quickly become a vestige of the past.”
Such laws limit health care by “forcing medical entrepreneurs to get a government permission slip to offer or expand services. To do that, they must prove that their services are ‘needed’ before they can start their business,” IJ said.
For instance, CON laws cover such things as hospitals seeking additional ICU beds, doctors endeavoring to perform outpatient surgeries and transportation companies that want to drive patients to routine medical appointments, the institute explained.
If the government says there isn’t a “need,” a new company has no opportunity to set up business.
The institute noted: “South Carolina and Connecticut, for example, have allowed residents immediate access to healthcare by waiving CON laws for projects necessary to respond to the pandemic. In other states like New Jersey, the Department of Health expanded access to hospital beds and hospice care but failed to increase access to other needed facilities like nursing homes and assisted living facilities.”
“Certificate of need laws only serve one purpose: to protect major healthcare providers from competition,” said Institute for Justice Senior Legislative Counsel Lee McGrath. “It doesn’t take a PhD in economics to realize that artificially limiting the supply of healthcare services will create less access to care, and yet 35 states still have CON laws in place.”
McGrath noted that states with CON laws have 131 fewer ICU beds per 100,000 people than states without them.
