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Health care has quickly become one of the primary economic drivers in Maine. We are the oldest state in the nation, meaning that our residents rely the most on accessible, affordable health care services. Yet Mainers are being held back by our certificate of need laws, which limit health care services in local communities and are shown to raise overall health care spending for physician care by as much as 5 percent.
I believe these laws in Maine are not working as intended and are instead artificially creating health care monopolies for those systems protected by existing certificate of need laws. There is little to no evidence that these laws are effective; instead, they create anti-competitive market conditions and protect incumbent providers. More than half of assessment tests found that certificate of need laws are associated with reduced access to care. States that have repealed these laws also have seen overall health care costs drop. Specifically, states with them still on the books have 11 percent higher health care costs compared with those who don’t.
A good example of how these laws distort Maine’s health care market is ambulatory surgery centers, which are great low-cost hospital alternatives. While many states, like our neighbors in New Hampshire, have seen numerous new ambulatory surgery centers open in recent years, Maine has not had a single one open in 20 years. States with certificate of need laws also have 13 percent fewer rural ambulatory surgery centers than other states. To me this is reflective of the failures of our certificate of need laws — not a lack of interest or demand.
Maine needs a health care system responsive to local communities, not the profit margins of a few large hospitals. It’s time for our Legislature to put patients, not large health care providers, first.
Bryce Garcia
Augusta
