Hospitals to fight bill that would open NC medical market

[WorseBeforeBetter]

Apodaca introduced the bill in the Senate. A less restrictive bill has been introduced in the House. Anyone out there familiar with CON programs (or lack thereof) in your state?

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Hospital officials say they depend on profitable services to offset losses from treating the poor and underinsured, such as those who can’t afford to pay for emergency room care. But repealing CON laws would let other providers eat in to the money-making parts of their operations. Financially struggling rural hospitals would be among those hardest hit, Hand predicts.

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Certificate-of-need laws are designed largely to curb rising health care costs by limiting the duplication of medical facilities, services and equipment.

Almost every state developed certificate-of-need rules following a 1974 federal law that made certain funding contingent on the enactment of such programs. But the federal mandate was repealed in 1987, and more than a dozen states subsequently discontinued their CON programs.

State and national studies have arrived at conflicting conclusions about the cost effectiveness of such programs.

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Those pushing for change point to a recent study that says North Carolina has one of the nation’s most restrictive CON programs. That study, by George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, concludes that such laws “decrease the supply and availability of health care services by limiting entry and competition.”

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http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article18618429.html#storylink=cpy

George Mason University's Mercatus Center

How is the Mercatus Center funded?

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization and is supported by foundations (58%), individuals (40%), and businesses (2%) from around the country. The Mercatus Center does not receive financial support from George Mason University or any federal, state, or local government.

[yeoman6987]

1. With 90 percent of the country having insurance due to ACA,

I would imagine the incidents of emergency room usage is down to a trickle especially is you divide 32 million for all hospitals in the country. Yes hospitals need to stay profitable but with ACA, they have decreased their expenses by a lot.

[jeff47]

2. This is North Carolina. No Medicaid expansion.

So emergency room usage has not been affected by the ACA. What has been effected is the payments the hospitals get from the Federal government has gone down. CONs are keeping rural hospitals in business in NC.

Medicaid expansion would also keep those hospitals in business, but that would be giving in to the evil Obamacare of doom.

[yeoman6987]

3. Oops your right.

So basically the 32 million left without insurance are in red states that didn't expand. If only they did, we'd be at 100 percent insured in less then 2 years. Incredible!