Posted on 11/13/2019 4:21:54 AM PST by Kaslin
Governments create problems. Then they complain about them.
"A public health crisis exists," says Kentucky's government, citing a report that found "a shortage of ambulance providers."
Local TV stations report on "people waiting hours for medical transportation."
"Six-year-old Kyler Truesdell fell off his motorcycle," reported Channel 12 news. "The local hospital told (his mother) he should be transported to Cincinnati Children's to check for internal injuries." But there was no ambulance available. Kyler had to wait two hours.
Yet Kyler's cousin, Hannah Howe, runs an ambulance service in Ohio, just a few minutes away. "We would've (taken him) for free," she says in my new video. "But it would've been illegal."
It would be illegal because of something called certificate of need (CON) laws.
Kentucky and three other states require businesses to get a CON certificate before they are allowed to run an ambulance service. Certificates go only to businesses that bureaucrats deem "necessary."
CON laws are supposed to prevent "oversupply" of essential services like, well, ambulances. If there are "too many" ambulance companies, some might cut corners or go out of business. Then patients would suffer, say the bureaucrats.
Of course, Kentucky patients already suffer, waiting.
It raises the question: If there's demand, then who are politicians to say that a business is unnecessary?
Phillip Truesdell, Hannah's father, often takes patients to hospitals in Kentucky, "I drop them off (but) I can't go back and get them!" he told me. "Who gives the big man the right to say, 'You can't work here'?!"
Government.
Phillip and Hannah applied for a CON certificate and waited 11 months for a response. Then they learned that their application was being protested by existing ambulance providers.
Of course it was. Businesses don't like competition.
"We go to court, these three ambulance services showed up," recounts Howe.
"They hammered her, treated her like she was a criminal," says Truesdell. "Do you know what you're going to do to this company?! ... To this town?!"
"It wasn't anything to do with us being physically able to do it. (They) just came through like the big dog not trying to let anybody else on the porch," says Howe.
Three other ambulance companies also applied for permission to operate in Kentucky. They were rejected, too.
Truesdell and Howe were lucky to find the Pacific Legal Foundation, a law firm that fights for Americans' right to earn a living.
Pacific Legal lawyer Anastasia Boden explains: "Traditionally we allow consumers to decide what's necessary. Existing operators are never going to say more businesses are necessary."
One Kentucky ambulance provider who opposed the new applications sent me a statement that says "saturating a community with more EMS agencies than it can ... support (leads) all agencies to become watered down."
Boden replies: "That's just absurd. We now recognize that competition leads to efficient outcomes."
It's not just ambulance companies and people waiting for ambulances who are hurt by CON laws. Thirty-five states demand that businesses such as medical imaging companies, hospitals and even moving companies get CON certificates before they are allowed to open.
Boden warns: "Once you get these laws on the books, it's very hard to get them off. Monopolies like their monopoly. This started back in the '70s with the federal government."
But the feds, amazingly, wised up and repealed the mandate in 1987, saying things like, "CON laws raise considerable competitive concerns (and) consumers benefit from lower prices when provider markets are more competitive."
Unfortunately, politicians in Kentucky and many other states haven't wised up.
When Virginia tried to abolish its CON law, local hospitals spent $200,000 on ads claiming competition will force hospitals to close. Somehow, hospitals operate just fine in states without CON laws. But the Virginia scare campaign worked. The state still has a CON law.
In health care, and all fields, it's better to see what competition can do rather than letting the government and its cronies decide what to allow.
6 years old and he “fell off his motorcycle?” Maybe there’s a Kiddie version; a Hog for the little ones.
I very strongly recommend that we require EVERY government employee and contractor to receive a Certificate of Need (CON) before they are allowed to continue to receive funds from the taxpayer.
Said CON’s would be issued by an organization reporting to and answerable solely to the taxpayers.
Probably a dirt bike. My husband’s family let their kids start riding when the kids were 3-4.
They do the same with cabs.
This is a good area for the Feds to step in and protect the rights of the people to prevent states from interfering with commerce.
I was riding mini bikes around that age.
The main shortage is guberment brains
“brains”
They know exactly what they’re doing.
Yeah right... It's the stinking lawyers (politicians) that don't like the competition...
Competition always makes goods and services better.. Ask President Trump, He'll tell you how it works..!! That's why the stinking lawyers hate him so much... :)
My friend had a heart attack and I drove him to the hospital. My cousin’s husband had a heart attack and she drove him to the hospital. Both are alive and kicking. What the heck is wrong with putting the kid in the car and taking him to the hospital? I think an ambulance would be terrifying.
Much cheaper than an ambulance. Of course, I couldn't transport someone who needed a gurney, but those aren't the majority of the cases.
A Hog for kids. A Piglet?
Maybe an electric version?
Electric piglet sounds like a great name for an alternative bahd.
“...Kyler had to wait two hours.”
What? They don’t have a car or know someone who does?
I’ve been to the emergency room a few times in my life and I’ve NEVER been inside an ambulance!
“...a helicopter flew him to a pediatric hospital trauma unit in Roanoke.”
“...the air ambulance company, was not part of the family’s health plan network and billed $36,000 for the 34-mile trip from the mountain to the hospital.”
“According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office ambulance costs can range from $224 to $2,204.”
In NYC one ambulance ride = 50 Uber rides.
“This is a good area for the Feds to step in and protect the rights of the people to prevent states from interfering with commerce.”
This is intrastate commerce. Business carried out within the boundaries of a single state. FedGov has no standing to interfere.
If it were interstate, business carried out across state lines, then FedGov could step in.
Better for the voters in each state to demand an end to the CON con.
I’d be looking to see who the 3 current companies BRIBED!!!!!
“This is a good area for the Feds to step in and protect the rights of the people to prevent states from interfering with commerce.”
So your solution to big government is bigger government!?
I can’t believe a freeper would come up with that?
How about the people of Kentucky taking care of business and electing people who would undo this idiocy, or better yet passing a proposition to do that?
You make way too much sense.
In the category of protecting rights, it’s the Feds primary role - enforcing the constitution.
I’d also like to see them work in a similar vein to keep states from infringing on the right to bear arms.
So from my perspective it’s about forcing states to repeal laws, not enact them, I.e. smaller gov.
E.g. When a state tries to infringe on 2A it’s actually the Feds job to stop it.
But of course that won’t happen because the gov is more interested in taking rights away than protecting them.
Every nation gets the government it deserves. Joseph de Maistre
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.