As defenders of the free market, AFP guards against big government to ensure there is healthy competition and that citizens have the power of choice – to choose where to buy clothes and gasoline, where to live, where to send our children to school and where to go to have our babies.

Yet in the South GA town of Albany, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital has a monopoly on many of the area’s most important medical services, including obstetrical health care. And, until recently, instead of helping to promote competition, the state government has barred other hospitals from providing obstetrical care.

But change and competition are now on the way in Albany. Under long-needed reforms to the state's Certificate of Need requirements, other hospitals are poised to enter the market.

That’s good news for us at AFP. State Director Jared Thomas commented on the situation in an Albany Herald story that ran July 4:

“It’s very, very unique that you have this one entity that’s providing all the health care in the area,” said Jared Thomas, state director for the Georgia chapter of Americans for Prosperity.

“Just like families will choose where they send their kids to school, those people might home-school or send them to public school or private school, the fact that they didn’t have any choices for health care is bad.

“When people have choices, it will be a positive,” Thomas said.

If you would like to follow this issue or find out how you can help promote hospital competition in southwest Georgia, please visit the AFP-Georgia website.

How does a monopoly affect quality?

Monopolies stifle the ability for potential competitors to provide better quality services at lower costs. Competition and choice force all providers to offer quality service. After all, health care is like any other business – you need to do a better job than the competitors, or your customers can go elsewhere.

How does a monopoly affect cost?

Without market accountability, a monopoly can get away with providing overpriced services to patients who have no other place to turn. In fact, healthcare costs in Albany, GA are substantially higher than any place else in the state and region. Health insurance companies and employers have recognized it; independent studies have confirmed it, and local government has sought in vain to address it.

The Importance of Patient Choice

Patient choice will not only keep the price of health care down, but also empower Georgians to be better informed about their options. When there are different hospitals to choose from, people will educate themselves about their choices. Albany citizens need and deserve the benefits of choice and competition to ensure they are able to pick the doctors and hospitals that they believe will best care for them.

Nothing could be more vital to our community than ensuring our families are given the highest possible quality of care. Competition, along with prudent regulation, is a vital tool in providing quality control.

When the state creates and maintains monopolies, Georgia’s taxpayers lose. Let’s work together to ensure that hospitals are allowed to compete so that we can all benefit.