healthcare

Abstract North Carolina is one of 18 states that do not have a telemedicine parity law, which forces insurance companies to pay health care providers for services treated via…

Despite it's promises, the federal health care law will bring premium increases to many due to community rating provisions, increased regulation and mandates, and problems with premium and cost-sharing subsidies.

Medicaid is a national problem, not just a state problem. All states are faced with the same incentive to grow their Medicaid programs because of the federal match. Unsustainable Medicaid spending is exacerbating the debt crisis at the federal level. It is paramount that state policymakers put pressure on Washington to reform Medicaid and willingly trade the open-ended federal reimbursement of state spending for freedom from federal roadblocks to make common-sense reforms to their programs.

This report highlights eleven action items that North Carolina’s new General Assembly should seek to implement in the first 100 days of the 2011 legislative session. These items touch upon a cross section of public policy areas, including education, economic development, property rights, energy and the environment, health care, the budget, and transparency. We at the John Locke Foundation believe that these items represent straightforward actions that would greatly enhance the liberty and prosperity of North Carolina’s citizens.

Click here to view and here to listen to Daren Bakst discussing this Spotlight report. RALEIGH — The recent controversy over North Carolina sheriffs’ efforts to gain access…

There has been significant public attention and concern regarding a proposal by the North Carolina Sheriffs' Association that would allow sheriffs to have access to patients' prescription information for painkillers and controlled substances. The bigger issue is that the state already collects this information and law enforcement, specifically the State Bureau of Investigation, already has access to it. North Carolina should eliminate the database. The incredible intrusion into the lives of citizens greatly outweighs its limited, if any, benefit.

North Carolina policymakers should eliminate provider licensing, certificate-of-need laws, and mandated health insurance benefits. Short of this, the state can accept alternative forms of credentialing and ensure consumers have the right to purchase optional benefits at additional cost. These regulations limit access to health care providers and health insurance by artificially constraining markets.

Click here to view and here to listen to Joseph Coletti discussing this Policy Report. RALEIGH — North Carolina lawmakers should eliminate certificate-of-need laws, mandated health insurance benefits,…

North Carolina’s 2001 mental health reform was ambitious and well intentioned but flawed. Many proven ideas did not make the final version of reform and lawmakers immediately raided the mental health trust fund to cover a General Fund fiscal crisis in 2001.

RALEIGH – Increased accountability and a larger private sector role could help improve North Carolina’s troubled mental health system. That’s a major recommendation offered in a new John Locke Foundation…