Pro or Con- Certificate of Need (Con) Proposal on Legislative Agenda
The honorable Mr. John Ruckelshaus makes the statement, “There is a body of evidence that the clustering of hospitals in a very small geographic area—sometimes called the high-net-worth rooftops or ZIP codes—is driving up health-care costs,” he said. “I personally don’t know that. But clearly, in this environment we’re in right now, this is a major issue.” Read more at IBJ.com.
Should we legislate such an archaic notion as “certificate of need” based on what we think might happen? As of January 1, 2019, all hospitals have to post their health care costs for each procedure. Competitive forces are at work. Allow hospitals the opportunity to compete for patients on price and convenience. Let them assume the risks.
While we are “targeting” the hospitals, the insurance companies that drive our personal healthcare costs report record earnings. Anthem reported revenues of over $23B and United Healthcare had revenues of over $56B. Read more at In.gov.
