In 1974, Congress, in its infamous stupidity, required states to adopt “certificate of need” laws as a condition of receiving federal health dollars. These laws required anyone who wanted to open a new medical facility to go through a regulatory process proving that the facility was “needed” and giving incumbent hospitals an opportunity to exercise an effective veto over competition.

And then these fools wonder why health care is so expensive.

This would be like McDonalds stopping a Burger King franchise from being built down the street because it “isn’t needed.”  The policy actually protects and perpetuates monopolies by government-created barriers to entry.

The federal mandate was repealed in 1986, but the majority of states still have CON on the books for at least some regulated medical services:

West Virginia has one of the most stringent CON regimes – and some of the highest health care prices in the country.

Governor Patrick Morrissey made repeal his top priority last year but ran into the lobbying might of the hospitals and failed despite huge Republican majorities.  He’s making another push this year, and the hospitals are concerned enough about it to put out statements like this howler:

Calling competition “wasteful duplication” is a new one to us. Congress should cut federal reimbursements to states that still have these laws.