While some have used the coronavirus crisis as an opportunity to bang the drum for socialist healthcare, welfare for the rich, or corporate bailouts, the actual events unfolding show that, sometimes, the best thing the government can do is get out of the way.
Big government has made the crisis worse from the beginning. It was the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration that blocked private industry from creating and distributing coronavirus tests. Their centralized control is at least partly to blame for the massive delays in testing and for the spread of the disease this scarcity enabled. And, already, we’re seeing how deregulation can boost our collective response to the pandemic by removing unnecessary government barriers.
BIG NEWS: @RSI has published a post highlighting a TON of small but important regulatory reforms that can help during the Coronavirus pandemic, highlighting the best ideas, solutions, and things already implemented by governors. https://t.co/AGLtkDOmoj
— Shoshana Weissmann, Sloth Committee Chair ? (@senatorshoshana) March 18, 2020
For example, states such as Massachusetts and Colorado have moved to relax regulations in order to allow doctors’ licenses to travel across state lines.
This is a great policy move and improves the ability of medical professionals to go work where they are needed most. But it’s absolutely mind-boggling that doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals are currently restricted by red tape from practicing medicine across state lines. If someone is licensed in California, he ought to be able to work in Nevada without having to jump through hoops and deal with endless bureaucracy.
We should also roll back regulations that limit telemedicine. If medical professionals believe they can best minimize the virus’s spread through offering medical advice via phone or video chat, they ought to be able to do so without state interference. Amid a public health crisis, government policy should make it easier, not more difficult, for people to receive care.
So, too, we should immediately abolish any and all regulatory restrictions that prevent people from working remotely or working from home. The government has no valid interest in micromanaging the labor force in this manner, and this needless red tape only serves to limit our ability to flatten the curve by practicing social distancing.
Additionally, more states and localities should follow New York’s lead and abolish restrictions on the ability of restaurants and bars to serve alcohol via takeout. If we don’t want millennials crowding bars, partying, and spreading the virus, we should make it easier for them and other drinkers to obtain alcohol in a safe manner. Right now, regulations often do the opposite.
And as Americans for Tax Reform catalogs, other examples of deregulation aiding the coronavirus response include rolling back regulations limiting colleges’ ability to offer online education, reducing airport security’s prohibition on hand sanitizer, and alleviating restrictions on the ability of commercial truck drivers to work to get shelves across the country restocked.
It is, frankly, hard to understand why any of these things were prohibited in the first place. Here’s hoping more federal bureaucrats and state and municipal governments see the light and finally get out of the way so we can respond to and rebuild after this coronavirus crisis.
