The Rise of Gig Work As work becomes more flexible, healthcare becomes more fragile. Today, over one-third of the American workforce (36%) earns a living through the gig economy, a system based on contract or “gig”-based work, often facilitated by online platforms (think Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, VRBO, Grubhub, Doordash, Fiverr, Thumbtack, Etsy etc.). This sweeping
Medical tourism has been a buzzword in recent years, but this phenomenon doesn’t apply just to international travel. A growing number of Americans are crossing state lines in search of more competitive clinical costs. In a country with soaring medical prices, where charging patients $4,000 for Tylenol is not uncommon, South Carolina is becoming a
The role of Pharmacy Benefit Managers, more commonly known as “PBMs,” has been a frequent topic of conversation in the South Carolina State House in recent months, with a new Pharmacy Benefit Managers Ad Hoc Committee established in February 2025. The Palmetto State PBM conversation mirrors national attention on the matter by Republicans and Democrats
South Carolina took a major step toward patient-centered healthcare with the recent repeal of its outdated Certificate of Need (CON) laws. That reform opened the door for more choice, access, and affordability in our state’s healthcare system. But if we want those gains to last–and grow–we must now address another outdated barrier to competition: non-compete
One of the scariest financial burdens on the average American citizen is their trip to a hospital. Without protections for health care billing transparency, individuals often walk into a hospital to receive help, unaware of the hefty bill that will inevitably hit their mailbox weeks later. Take, for example, the case of Amanda Partee-Manders, a
This afternoon, the South Carolina House of Representatives unanimously passed S.2, the bill to restructure South Carolina’s fragmented health agencies. The legislation takes three siloed behavioral health agencies—the Department of Mental Health, the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, and the Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services—into one, cohesive Department of Behavioral Health
In the 126th General Assembly, key South Carolina legislators are working to pass S.46, a bill that signals that physician non-compete agreements both interfere with physician-patient relationships and corporatize the practice of medicine. The bill is designed to put an end to medical non-competes. What is a noncompete agreement? A noncompete agreement is a legal
Our friends at the Cicero Institute annually publish an analysis of telehealth laws across the 50 states. Earlier this year, Palmetto Promise released an analysis of improvements needed in South Carolina’s telehealth laws, relying on previous editions of Cicero’s grading system that did not account for the Telehealth and Telemedicine Modernization Act, which was signed
In the 125th General Assembly (2023-24), South Carolina legislators passed a bill separating the behemoth Department of Health & Environmental Control (DHEC) into separate agencies (Act 60, 2023). Following that much-needed reform, legislators’ efforts turned toward finding comprehensive measures that would streamline health functions across state government. The state had 6 separate agencies that all dealt
In February 2024, the General Assembly passed the SC Telehealth and Telemedicine Modernization Act (“The Act”). This legislation outlined a new definition of “Telehealth” as well as enhanced access to specific controlled substances through telehealth by updating tele-prescribing regulations. The update was careful to preserve necessary safeguards. The Act was a good first step, but
