No Healthcare Czar for SC, As Of Right Now

A bill to consolidate six South Carolina heath care agencies that had won the overwhelming approval of both chambers of the General Assembly is now dead, stopped cold Thursday, May 9, 2024, by one procedural vote.

Representative Josiah Magnuson opposed the bill from the start. The Spartanburg Republican says it would create a health care czar who could take over like a dictator in case of another COVID-19-style pandemic saying "It puts too much power in the hands of one person. Ya know, we're putting several different state agencies all under this new, what's been dubbed a 'health czar' the secretary of health policy."

Unanimous support was needed to take up the bill one last time minutes before Thursdays' 5 p.m. end-of-session deadline. Magnuson objected and stood his ground even as bill sponsor, Senator and fellow-Republican Tom Davis, held a heated conference with other party members.

The proposal would have created a new Executive Office of Health and Policy combining the now-separate agencies that oversee South Carolina's Medicaid program and other health related programs. The head of the consolidated agency would have become a member of the governor's cabinet.