This is what happens when the government steps aside.
Via Business Report:
A study commissioned by Louisiana’s private indigent care partners shows that former Gov. Bobby Jindal’s decision to privatize the state’s health care system for the poor has resulted in savings for the state budget.
Conservative economist Loren Scott said at the Press Club of Baton Rouge’s weekly meeting today that partly privatizing the state-run charity hospitals saved Louisiana more than $850 million last year, though Scott acknowledged roughly $50 million of capital improvements included in that number may have happened regardless.
Louisiana has saved an estimated $2.7 billion since the privatization began in 2013, Scott says. “This transition caused a lot of new money to come into the state,” he said.
The savings, Scott said, came primarily from the state leasing the facilities it previously owned under the defunct charity system to the nine private partners that provide indigent care, including Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge. That move alone generated $525 million last year, the study said.
HT: The Hay Ride