Is This the Dumbest Health Care Law?

Article excerpt

Certificate-of-Need laws require entrepreneurs to prove government necessity before opening a hospital, while existing competitors testify against them at hearings. The setup invites obvious abuse: hospitals already in business can simply claim the market is saturated, blocking rivals from entering. These regulations, designed decades ago to control costs, instead entrench monopolies and reduce competition. Reason argues the perverse incentive structure makes the policy economically backward, letting incumbents veto their own challengers.