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Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Brewster Ambulance Service, a family-owned medical transportation company operating in Naples wants permission to expand to a neighboring county which has only one ambulance service. But state rules make that difficult by forcing companies to prove that their service is needed in another county before expanding.
The Pacific Legal Foundation in a letter April 16, asks Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to suspend the state’s Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity regulations and allow Brewster to expand.
“Forcing Brewster to wait for permission to operate until local bureaucrats deed the business 'needed' puts Floridians’ lives at risk,” the letter said.
Governors in 18 other states have suspended similar regulations, often called "Certificate of Need" requirements, the Legal Foundation said.
Brewster applied to expand its service to Lee County in 2019 but was turned down by county commissioners who found there was no need for another service.
“The only way the government determines whether a new business is needed is by deferring to the testimony of the existing businesses in that industry,” Anastasia Boden, senior attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation said in an interview with the Florida Record. “What we see in all of our lawsuits is that applications for new businesses are protested and applications are denied.”
The denials, she said, “Clearly have nothing to do with health and safety. This is just about stifling competition that the entrenched businesses don’t want.”
Business obviously perceived a need for their services or they would not want to expand, Boden said.
“We think the public should choose whether you are needed, not the government,” she said.
Florida last year eliminated similar regulations for hospitals but not ambulance services.
“They have made great strides, they just need to go further,” said Boden.
The foundation currently has a lawsuit challenging similar ambulance service regulations in Kentucky and would be open to another in Florida, she said.