Virginia is one of 36 states with certificate of need licensing laws for healthcare providers, remnants of the 1960s and 1970s that effectively create self-perpetuating medical cartels in the states where they exist.
In the Old Dominion, the state Board of Health must approve all new medical facilities and services, as well as major expansions of existing facilities.
Nineteen separate medical devices and services, including such common procedures as MRIs and CT scans, require a certificate of need (CON) before they can be made available to the public.
The argument in support of CONs is straightforward. The restrictions on competition fostered by such laws provide a way for hospitals to collect more money from some patients, in order to subsidize care for those who can't afford it — a kind of backdoor socialism in which the private sector takes on the role of redistributor of income.
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