AFPF Provides Input on CON Laws to DOJ Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force

Arlington, VA | Today, Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFP Foundation) filed a public comment on how certificate-of-need (CON) laws harm patients and stifle innovation in the health care industry. AFP Foundation submitted the comment to the Department of Justice Antitrust Division’s newly launched Anticompetitive Regulations Task Force (Task Force).

The Task Force was formed pursuant to Executive Order 14192, “Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation,” to “advocate for the elimination of anticompetitive state and federal laws and regulations that undermine free market competition and harm consumers, workers, and businesses.” AFP Foundation submitted the comment in response to the Task Force’s request for public input targeting red tape.

AFP Foundation’s comment features findings from the Permission to Care project, a series of original research reports analyzing CON applications in a dozen states. The comment details how CON laws have prevented billions in health care investment in those states over the past few years. For example,

• North Carolina: $4.2 billion health care investment denied from January 2012–February 2025.
• Tennessee: $1.4 billion denied from April 2000–October 2023.
• Kentucky: $1 billion denied or withdrawn from December 1972–July 2024.
• Georgia: $700 million denied from January 2012–November 2022.
• Michigan: $585 million denied from January 2018–February 2021.
• South Carolina: $429 million denied, appealed, or withdrawn from Jan. 2018–February 2021.
• Iowa: $250 million from denied July 2016–February 2020.

The last seven presidential administrations have called on states to repeal or retrench their CON laws. AFP Foundation’s comment encourages the Task Force to continue its work to implore states to remove these barriers to accessible, affordable, high-quality health care.

Read the full comment.