Governor Patrick Morrisey again followed through on his campaign promise to make West Virginia’s government more efficient by cutting a deal to sell the state’s four long-term care facilities to private actors, bringing the Mountain State’s healthcare system more in line with the rest of the country.
“Government should focus uniquely on governmental things and the private sector should focus on things the private sector should handle,” said Gov. Morrisey in a speech announcing the deal. “Health care is a great example of that. The state needed to get out of the long term care management business.”
Indeed, West Virginia is the only state to both own and directly operate long-term care facilities as part of its state-run hospital system. The results have been far from ideal. The four state-owned facilities have been collectively losing tens of millions of dollars every year and racking up enormous maintenance bills that the state can no longer afford, all while providing subpar treatment to patients in need.
When state government fails in such an obvious manner, said Gov. Morrisey, the solution is simple: let private businesses take control. All parties tend to end up better off, especially the thousands of West Virginian patients who will benefit from higher quality, more readily available, and more affordable care.
“Not only will this address some of the pressing maintenance concerns of these properties, but it’s going to provide a long list of modern, high-tech medical services to patients who are in need,” said Gov. Morrisey said.
“I want to repurpose what state government looks like,” the Governor continued. “There are a lot of functions that are not performed efficiently by the government – nor should they be.”
The results of the deal are already emphasizing the truth of that philosophy. With the pending deal between the state of West Virginia and Marx Development Group, the state will receive $60 million in cash and enjoy more effective operations at its now private facilities. On top of that, MDG agreed to invest tens of millions into building anywhere from three to five new-and-improved facilities to maximize its performance in West Virginia, creating hundreds of in-state construction and labor jobs to achieve that goal. Once the job is complete, patients will not only see better service, but significantly expanded access.
Free markets bring an improved set of incentives and better outcomes to most areas in which they are permitted to operate without interference. With the reintroduction of private ownership into the market for long-term care in West Virginia, the state is taking another step towards liberalizing its top-down, state-run healthcare system, prioritizing the well-being of its elderly residents over the continuation of a failed status quo. Other Appalachian leaders can take a page out of Gov. Morrisey’s book to encourage efficiency and innovation in their own state governments wherever possible.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Dennis Hull
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://www.atr.org and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.
