1 lawmaker stops South Carolina health care consolidation bill that had overwhelming support

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A bill that would have consolidated six health care facilities in South Carolina and passed overwhelmingly by both chambers of the General Assembly died on the final day of the session Thursday due to a procedural move by a member angry that he was his colleagues were mocked.

Republican Rep. Josiah Magnuson has opposed the bill from the start, saying it would create a health care czar who could take over like a dictator if another pandemic emergency like COVID-19 were to occur.

So when the House needed unanimous support to pass the bill one last time, minutes before Thursday’s 5 p.m. deadline for the end of the session, Magnuson objected and stood his ground, even as Republican Sen. Tom Davis, the bill’s sponsor, came over and had a heated conversation. with other party members, with many in the room stopping to watch, and security sergeants hovering nearby.

After the session, Magnuson said he was offended that he and his fellow members of the Freedom Caucus — about 15 of the most conservative members of the House of Representatives — had been mocked all week.

Magnuson said a colleague had a doll with bright red hair, just like Magnuson, wearing a tin hat with a Freedom Caucus sticker.

He said Davis has had nothing but insulting things to say about the group, which often tries to use obstructionist tactics to stop bills and social media posts that other Republicans say are ambiguous or misleading to achieve goals beyond than what most Republicans in the House of Representatives want.

“They basically made fun of me,” Magnuson said. “They have completely eradicated any credibility they have towards me.”

The bill follows last year’s breakup of the Ministry of Health and Environmental Control, which split off environmental functions.

The 2024 proposal would have created a new Executive Office of Health and Policy. It would have combined separate agencies that currently oversee South Carolina’s Medicaid program, assistance for the elderly and those with mental health problems, public health and drug and alcohol abuse programs. The consolidated agency would have come under the governor’s office.

Republican Gov. Henry McMaster supported the bill in his State of the State address. It was a pet project of Republican Senate Finance Committee Chairman Harvey Peeler and was supported by Republican House Speaker Murrell Smith. It passed the Senate 44-1 and the House 98-15.

A stunned Davis stormed back into the room after the hammer fell and told Peeler what had happened. Staffers in both chambers shook their heads.

“I am interested in providing good health care options to the people of South Carolina,” Davis said. “And we had a number of people in the House today who let down the people of South Carolina over petty political differences.”

The bill sometimes had a heavy blow. More conservative senators sought to advance proposals that would prevent companies from requiring workers to receive vaccines not approved by the federal government — a holdover from the grievance of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Others were unhappy with their interpretation that the new director of the larger health care organization could be given nearly unlimited powers to quarantine, require vaccines or arrest people who don’t follow orders in a health care emergency. Supporters of the bill said this couldn’t happen.

The death of the health care law was considered a victory by the Freedom Caucus, which often feels left out of the best committee assignments and that their ideas fail to gain traction in committee or in the House of Representatives.

Caucus chairman Republican Rep. Adam Morgan said it was a bad bill from the start.

“Sometimes your bills die,” Morgan said. “You play stupid games, win stupid prizes.”

Smith said these kinds of moves by the Freedom Caucus don’t help their cause in a room where almost all progress comes from collaboration. He said the bill will remain a priority and the General Assembly will return sooner than some may realize.

“It will be a six-month delay, but I don’t think it will disrupt our operations,” Smith said.