Thursday, November 14, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Friday, April 22, 2016
Privatization May Drive Down Costs on Maui
By Grassroot Institute @ 6:24 PM :: 4174 Views :: Health Care

Privatization May Drive Down Costs on Maui

by Aaron Lief, Grassroot Institute, April 21, 2016

Dr. Keli’i Akina sat down with Leonard Gilroy of the Reason Foundation to discuss healthcare privatization. The interview was recorded  as part of the Grassroot Institute with Dr. Keli’i Akina, a radio show on KAOI 1110AM Maui and KKNE 940AM Oahu.

Until recently, hospital labor on Maui was given exclusively to a public labor union. As a result, 70% of the budget was spent on employees–quite an excessive amount. In 2015, Maui state hospitals were allowed to enter into a private contract with skilled labor providers, and that contract was recently awarded to Kaiser.

So, how exactly did the public sector unions drive up labor costs? “You tend to find, in the absence of competition, monopolies will do what monopolies classically do under economic theory. You tend to see high costs and less quality,” Leonard explained, “One of the reasons governments turn to public-private partnerships is to actually bring that tension into the system through competition.”

One of the arguments against privatization of services provided by the government, is the fear of using profit as a motivating force. “That’s one of the most common fears–I would really call it a myth–that profit is a bad thing when you’re talking about the public sector. I would challenge that,” Leonard said, “I don’t see a problem with a business making a profit if you’re putting that business to work in the service of the public interests. If a company is able to come in and provide what a government is looking for at the price that the government is seeking to provide it, we should not be concerned if the private entity is able to earn a return on that.”

Listen to the full interview here:

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii Military History

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Together

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

July 4 in Hawaii

Land and Power in Hawaii

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii