COVID-19, or
coronavirus, is dominating headlines across the United States, with more and
more Americans beginning to work from home, staying away from crowded places,
and canceling social plans as precautions. But it’s important to realize that
many state governments are standing in the way of administering effective
treatment to the sick.
How are they doing that? Through certificate of need laws. As the Goldwater Institute’s Naomi Lopez and the Mackinac Center’s Lindsay Killen write in an op-ed published this week, these laws require “a board of existing competitors” to approve the construction of new hospitals, the addition of beds to existing facilities, or the adoption of some types of new technologies. At a time when coronavirus looms, these government limitations on our medical capacity are extremely worrisome.
“We shouldn’t have to wait until there is a looming public health threat to recognize that these crony laws serve to prop up hospitals’ bottom lines artificially at the expense of public well-being and preparedness,” Lopez and Killen write.
You can read their full op-ed here.
First, it was Arizona.
Then, Pennsylvania. Now, this week, Utah is becoming the latest state to follow
the Goldwater Institute’s national lead in breaking down barriers to work.
In most states, licensed
professionals who relocate across state lines are often required to complete
additional training or testing simply to obtain a license to work in their new
home state, forcing them to spend more time and more money just to be approved
for a license to do a job they were already doing safely and productively
elsewhere. Utah Senate Bill 23 directs that state’s licensing entities to
approve an application for a license to an individual who has held a license in
good standing in another state for at least one year at a similar scope of
practice as the license he or she currently holds. It’s a reform that will
benefit not only workers and their families, but also employers and consumers
in the state who will benefit from the increased options and price competition
that accompany an influx of skilled labor.
The bill passed through
both houses of the legislature with overwhelming support, and now, it awaits
the signature of Utah Governor Gary Herbert. Goldwater
Institute Director of Strategic Engagement Heather Curry has the full story at
In Defense of Liberty.
Military families with
an active duty service member move an average of every two to three years. For
a military spouse who needs a license to work in the field of their choice, the
long, cumbersome, and bureaucratic process of getting relicensed every time
they move can be simply too great a burden.
Debbi Chapman is one of those military spouses. Goldwater Institute National Investigative Journalist Mark Flatten interviewed Chapman for his recent investigative report on the employment and licensing challenges that military spouses face, and her story is featured in a new blog post on In Defense of Liberty. Chapman was an open-heart intensive care nurse who eventually gave up her profession because it became unworkable to maintain her license as she moved from state to state.
“It’s like, which
career is more important?” said Chapman, whose husband recently retired as an
Army sergeant and bomb disposal expert. “My career is very important to the
patients I work with. But his job is important to the country and to what he
believes in and what he feels. We agree on that. He did a job that not many
other people could do or would do. So it was important that he was highly
trained. My job is important. I’m highly trained, but so is he, and in the
grand scheme of things he was protecting the greater good.”
You can read Chapman’s full story at In Defense of Liberty. And to read Flatten’s full investigative report, click here.
