Trump administration ties rural health funding to ending hospital construction laws

The Trump administration is linking billions in rural health funding to states' willingness to end or loosen certificate of need (CON) laws, which regulate the construction of new hospitals, CBS News reported.

Under the five-year Rural Health Transformation Program, part of the administration's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, states' funding applications will be scored higher if they reduce restrictions imposed by CON laws, according to CBS News.

These laws require healthcare providers to prove community need before building new facilities and were originally designed to curb monopolies and control costs. However, critics argue that CON laws have increased healthcare prices, delayed necessary facility expansions, and limited access to new technology in rural areas.

More than 30 states and Washington, D.C., currently enforce CON laws, but six states have indicated plans to reconsider these regulations in their funding applications, CBS News noted.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services described CON laws as "an additional expense and burden on rural facilities" and emphasized that states with fewer CON restrictions would receive higher scores in the funding program, CBS News reported.