A new report released by Americans for Prosperity Foundation – Alabama reveals how the state’s Certificate of Need (CON) laws are having a negative impact on healthcare systems in the Yellowhammer State.
The report argues that CON regulations raise health care costs for Alabamians, while also decreasing the quality of care they receive.
“This new report underscores the vital importance of repealing Alabama’s Certificate of Need laws,” AFPF-AL State Director, Adam Thompson said. “These costly regulations reduce competition in Alabama’s medical system, lower the quality-of-care patients receive, and stifle innovation and investment in Alabama’s health care system.”
According to the report, CON laws divert millions of dollars that could otherwise be invested to improve Alabama’s health care outcomes. It also also reveals how CON regulations stifle innovation and the ability health providers have to engage in the market.
“At a time when many of Alabama’s neighbors have rolled back these burdensome regulations,” Thompson continued, “our state cannot afford to do nothing.”
There have been many attempts to reform or abolish CON laws in Alabama, including by State Auditor Andrew Sorrell who introduced a bill on it when he was a state representative in 2022.
“[I] like calling it a CON law because the only people they are conning are the competition,” Sorrell said at the time. “[I]t is a barrier to free market competition in the health care system. … I’ve carried this bill for multiple years, it’s getting a lot more attention now that we’re in a coronavirus pandemic. Because now we have a shortage of hospital beds and everyone’s like we oh, the government needs to solve this problem, well maybe the government helped create this problem. Maybe we should start there.”
RELATED: Yaffee: Alabama Certificate of Need Laws are just a big CON
The AFP-AL report included evidence of the positive impact repealing the CON laws would have for Alabamians.
“In the absence of a CON program, researchers estimate Alabama would have more than 178 hospitals compared to the current 126,” the report states. “Patients would also expect to save over $200 a year in total health care spending if CON were no more. Post-surgery complications would also be expected to decrease by 5.2 percent if the Alabama Legislature were to repeal the state’s CON law.6 By artificially limiting the supply of health care in the state, Alabama’s CON law increases costs while decreasing the quality of care available for patients.”
AFPF-AL reported there are nearly 50 CON requirements on the books in Alabama with $7.7 million paid by providers to application fees over the past 10 years. While Alabama consistently ranks at the bottom of health care quality and outcomes, the report also reveals how CON regulations stifle innovation and the ability health providers have to engage in the market.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee
