Government should be run like a business because businesses can do things better, faster and cheaper.  Sounds good (and familiar), right?  Except it isn’t true.  Just ask Jill Bronaugh from Topeka, Kansas.

Jill’s son has cerebral palsy and other serious health concerns. After Kansas Governor Sam Brownback outsourced KanCare, the state’s Medicaid program in 2013, Nicholas’ coverage was dropped without warning. Jill spent weeks trying to restore coverage of Nicholas’ prescriptions to keep him healthy.

Jill’s is just one of countless horror stories that result from public services being outsourced to for-profit corporations that fail to keep their promises; stories chronicled in ITPI’s new report, Out of Control: The Coast-to-Coast Failures of Outsourcing Public Services to For-Profit Corporations.

As the report makes clear, horror stories like Jill’s are everywhere.  Indiana outsourced a toll road to for-profit corporations who promised they would keep the public’s interest at heart. But when Gov. Mitch Daniels declared an emergency during a 2008 flood, the corporations demanded to be reimbursed nearly $500,000 in lost tolls from Hoosiers evacuating to safety.

And in California, Los Angeles county continued to renew a foster placement contract even after multiple reports surfaced of children placed in homes where they experienced severe abuse.

So the next time you hear someone spout the argument that government should be run like a business, send them to ITPI’s website to read Out of Control, The Coast-to-Coast Failures of Outsourcing Public Services to For-Profit Corporations. It’s time to set the record straight.