Posted on 03/30/2020 9:16:39 AM PDT by Kaslin
Once again, government intrusion into the health-care sector has proved disastrous.
While New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo blames the president and the federal government for the lack of beds and ventilators in his state, the power to determine the number of these critical medical supplies in New York hospitals falls squarely upon the shoulders of the governor.
During a Tuesday press conference, Cuomo lashed out at the federal government for not sending enough ventilators as the Wuhan coronavirus continues to rattle the state. “Four hundred ventilators? I need 30,000 ventilators,” Cuomo said. “You want a pat on the back for sending 400 ventilators?” The state is projecting it will need approximately 140,000 beds in 14 to 21 days, which is higher than its previous estimation of 110,000 beds by early to mid-May.
However, New York, along with 35 other states and the District of Columbia, have in place what are known as certificate-of-need (CON) laws. According to Reason, “Their stated purpose is to keep hospitals from overspending, and thus from having to charge higher prices to make up for unnecessary outlays of capital costs. But in practice, they mean hospitals must get a state agency’s permission before offering new services or installing a new medical technology. Depending on the state, everything from the number of hospital beds to the installation of a new MRI machine could be subject to CON review.”
Rules like these artificially lower available medical care. Rather than produce good results for patients, these overbearing regulations have instead inflated health-care costs and created a lack of competition among hospitals, leading to poor care. In addition, these protocols could lead to shortages of crucial medical equipment, such as ventilators and hospital beds, as demonstrated in New York.
Radio host Mark Levin referenced these laws during an interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci. “We have what’s called these CON Laws in 36 states [and] the District of Columbia,” Levin stated. “These are certificate-of-need laws, where the governors, the states decide how many ICU beds there are going to be. How many hospitals are going to be? Whether a hospital can build another wing — all goes through these state regulatory processes.”
Levin later went on to criticize Cuomo, stating, “I watched the governor of New York say we need more beds, and I said, ‘Well, why don’t you go get them?’ Because under these CON laws … the first state to have it was New York in the 1960s. They limit the number of beds for whatever reason, they limit the expansion of facilities and not just that, MRIs, CTs, other devices.”
The United States has far more critical-care beds per capita than other countries, but CON law regulations are one of the main reasons the United States has fewer overall hospital beds. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, America has 2.8 hospital beds per 1,000 people. This is less than the 3.2 beds per 1,000 people in Italy, as well as the 12.3 beds per 1,000 people in South Korea, which have had serious outbreaks of the virus. Because of CON laws, some U.S. hospitals aren’t allowed to determine how many beds they need and to expand care as they see fit.
In addition to causing a lack of proper equipment, these rules harm patients. According to a study by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, states with CON laws have a 2.5 to 5 percent higher mortality rate than those without. Wait times have also been affected, with the average delay in New York City emergency rooms ranging from seven to 10 hours before the virus outbreak added strain to an already poorly operating medical system.
Yet Cuomo, who blames the federal government for a lack of beds and ventilators in his state, seemingly forgot it was his mismanagement that led to these shortages. According to RealClearPolitics, “After learning that the state’s stockpile of medical equipment had 16,000 fewer ventilators than New Yorkers would need in a severe pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo came to a fork in the road in 2015. He could have chosen to buy more ventilators. Instead, he asked his health commissioner, Howard Zucker to assemble a task force and draft rules for rationing the ventilators they already had.”
Cuomo could’ve spent the necessary $576 million on the ventilators to prepare for the worst-case scenario, but instead opted to spend $750 million on a solar panel factory.
Once again, government intrusion into health care has proved disastrous, to say the least. Just as bureaucratic red tape prevented testing from quickly getting underway in the U.S., government continues to prove it is the problem, not the solution. Rather than focusing on patients and their health, government regulations such as CON laws prioritize protectionism and government control over industry, demonstrate zero compassion for American patients, and seem to benefit only those who seek more and more control over our lives.
Luckily, efforts to eradicate this onerous red tape have already begun, as South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster issued an executive order suspending CON law enforcement in the state. Governors like Cuomo would be wise to follow suit and slash these burdensome regulations to allow for the expansion of new medical facilities and COVID-19 treatments.
More government control of our health-care industry is the exact opposite of what should be happening in Washington, D.C, and states around the country. Instead, lawmakers across the nation should be focusing on getting rid of these big-government barriers that make it more difficult for doctors and medical experts to treat patients. Letting the market solve its own problems is the answer to many of our problems in health care. The government needs to know when to step out of the way.
This will not be reported by the fake media.
This comes as no surprise. Time and again, democrat leadership has proved to be less than stellar.
lest people forget- Four years ago cuomo was told the state was 16,000 ventilators short if there as a crisis. His response? Spend $27 million taxpayer dollars to fund college for illegals:
https://buffalonews.com/2019/01/23/college-aid-for-undocumented-immigrants-oked-by-legislature/
Cuomo passed up an opportunity to replenish dwindling NY ventilator supplies, opting, instead, to
“feel good about himself” by printing thousands of “I love New York” banners for display around the state.
(HAT TIP JOHN SEMMENS) Cuomo pointed out that his role model, Pres Barack Obama, was cutting CDC expenditures at
the same time albeit for a different reason. (Obama found out the CDC helped white people avoid disease more than it did minorities).
Cuomo was miffed that he would be held to a higher standard than a Nobel Prize winner.....cackle.
I mean, look at the guy’s picture above. He’s a thug.
Unless they can use it to make President Trump look badly.
Cuomo thought that giving $750 million to oligarch Elon Musk for the promise of a few jobs, some nice green bona-fides and some headlines was a better investment.
The COM laws allowed Obama and his cronies to make a lot of money selling licenses to hospitals in IL. Hire our consultant and you get your permit from the state.
CUOMO AND BLASIO BOTH PUSHED FOR SANCTUARY CITIES AND GOT IT FOR THE DEM VOTE. NOW ILLEGAL ALIENS CROSS THE BORDER AND GO TO THE SANCTUARY STATES. PEOPLE WITH MEANS IN THE SANCTUARY CITIES RUSH TO THE SOUTH AND EAST FOR MEDICAL SAFETY. CUOMO AND BLASIO SHOULD BE PROSECUTED FOR VIOLATING THEIR OATHS TO PROTECT THE AMERICAN CITIZEN.
He kept saying...they're in storage where they should be while we wait for the apex. He made a fool of himself.
Son of Sfachim is in over his head.
*IF* this was true, I’m sure the NYYTimes and NPR would report it. /s
Fake tough guy. He grew up in the Governor’s mansion and attended private schools.
Here’s how it works in New Orleans, Puerto Rico, or New York: when a democrat screws up, the media goes up the hierarchy searching for a Republican. As soon as it finds one, the Republican is made to take the blame for the screwup.
If there is no one, then it’s White Privilege, or the Patriarchy, or some such delusion.
I think the Chicago mayor is blaming the city’s problems on Republicans. Last time they had Republicans running stuff there was 1931. But, still, it’s our fault.
(I might be confusing Chicago with Detroit, but it doesn’t matter. They will search up through the Org Chart or back in time until they can find a Republican to blame.)
Any truth that by the time you need a ventilator you’re in extremis ?
There's a "fertilizer hit the ventilator" joke in all of this, I suggest using that phrase as the name of the recall petitions against Cuomo and DeBlasio.
Kasie Hunt, NBC News’ Capitol Hill correspondent, retweeted Bagley’s tweet...
Bump
The 2015 PDF of the NY State Health planning commission is available online. They state in it, at the time there were 4,800 ventilators. Cost of acquiring and storing more was put off and 1.) offset by a committee set up to decide the rules of use of a ventilator vs. imposing DO NOT Resuscitate Triage!!! In other words.... rationing the ventilators rather that store enough. All in 2015.
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