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Image Credit: YouTube Screenshot, News 19 WLTX The former Speaker of the House in the South Carolina legislature, Jay Lucas, left his role about a month ago. Now, he’s been named the top lobbyist for the state’s largest hospital corporation, Prisma Health.
That’s sus. Here’s why.
This year, South Carolina came within inches of passing one of the most important healthcare reforms on the table: a full repeal of certificate of need laws.
Certificate of need laws, more commonly referred to by their (highly appropriate) acronym— CON laws—are some of the most corrupt on the books. These laws were largely put in place during the 1970s, with the direct intention of limiting the supply of healthcare services.
Why would someone want to do that? Pretty simple. When you limit the supply of healthcare, service providers can charge more.
Major healthcare corporations love these laws, and they spend a lot of money on lobbying to keep them—as was the case in South Carolina this year. Under CON laws, people who want to build a new hospital, add new healthcare technology, or even just expand the number of beds in their company for treatment must go before a regulatory board and argue why they need this expansion. Their (typically much larger and better funded) competitors then get to come in and argue against them.
And guess who staffs these regulatory boards? Usually, people who are pretty highly connected to politicians and major healthcare corporations. Long story short, the smaller competitors are often blocked from offering new services.
You get the scheme now, right?These laws are not only one major reason why healthcare costs have skyrocketed in recent decades—they also have deadly consequences.One study found that states with CON laws have healthcare prices 11% higher than those that don’t. Others show they diminish hospital quality and even contribute to […]
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They’re Trying to Shut Us Down
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JD Rucker
