Leading insurance providers cite hospital care
as a primary source for the rising cost of healthcare.  And
although the cost of out-patient care is rising faster, in-patient care
still represents the largest single component of healthcare cost. 
Certificate-of-Need (CON) laws contribute to this cost by restricting
hospital access to needed services and technology, says JLF economist Roy Cordato in a recent Policy Report
Hospitals, in seeking either, must receive permission from the
state.  Higher prices don’t just fall on patients.  They also
get passed onto counties who must cover the cost of indigent care
through Medicaid.  Fiscal policy analyst Joe Coletti writes in a Spotlight paper, “Counties’ Medicaid Mandate a Burden,”
that “Carolina’s counties spend up to 15 percent of their general fund
budgets” to cover this cost.  Coletti’s observation that Medicaid
cost will outrun counties’ ability to generate revenue, was noted in
the Spring Hope Enterprise, picked up the N.C. Association of County Commissioners  and was referenced by State Rep. Nye
at a House Committee on Health Care.  If you’re a state employee,
it’s in your best interest to convince the state to look into Health
Savings Accounts (HSAs) to help save the state and yourself money, as Nancy Winters, JLF’s Policy Analyst for Health & Human Services notes in the News & Observer of Raleigh.