The State-Sanctioned Cartel Starving American Healthcare
Try buying an MRI machine or opening a clinic in 35 states, and you will quickly find yourself begging your future competitors for permission. These state-enforced cartels ensure that local hospital monopolies can legally veto anyone who threatens their bottom line.
The Brief
The Government-Enforced Cartel Starving American Healthcare
Source: thedailyeconomy.org
By the numbers
- Connecticut's Public Act No. 26-68 replaces its previous OHS structure with a three-person panel starting July 1, 2027, and caps consultant fees in CON proceedings at $100,000.
- The DOJ’s settlement with OhioHealth subjects the system to 10 years of federal and state oversight after it contractually blocked lower-cost competitors from 85% of the local commercial insurance market.
- Patients in CON states pay 11% more for care on average and have access to 30% fewer hospitals per capita than those in non-CON states.
- A coalition of 25 states and the District of Columbia filed suit on June 29, 2026, to block federal Medicaid rules that narrow medical frailty exemptions.
- Studies link diagnostic imaging CON restrictions to a 14% reduction in facilities, resulting in an estimated 2,499 excess lung cancer deaths annually.
In 35 states, the law treats a new hospital bed like a threat to public order rather than a tool to save lives.
What happens next: Watch whether North Carolina and Pennsylvania lawmakers dismantle their respective healthcare cartels before the August 30 federal funding deadlines.
Watchlist
- Pennsylvania's Funding Deadline: Lawmakers face an August 30 cutoff for nurse licensing.
- North Carolina's ASC Battle: The hospital lobby fights to block cheaper outpatient surgical centers.
- Medicaid Work Requirements: Federal courts weigh challenges to narrowed medical frailty exemptions.
More headlines
- Pennsylvania's Costly War on Nurse PractitionersEconomic
Pennsylvania remains a "reduced practice" state, requiring nurse practitioners to secure written collaborative agreements with physicians before treating patients.
Crow's Nest Forcing highly trained nurses to buy permission slips from doctors is a protectionist racket that leaves rural patients without care while leaving federal tax dollars on the table.
- The Hospital Lobby's Gatekeeper in North CarolinaProperty
North Carolina's Senate Bill 1040 aims to strip away CON requirements for ambulatory surgical centers, but the bill remains stalled in the House.
Crow's Nest The revolving door between state legislatures and hospital lobbying groups ensures that cheap, independent surgical clinics remain illegal so that massive hospital networks can keep charging monopoly prices.