North Carolina’s certificate-of-need restrictions limit access to health care and thwart innovation, while providing no evidence that the restrictions meet their original goal of controlling costs.

Two research scholars from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University made those points while discussing the N.C. CON law during a presentation Monday to the John Locke Foundation’s Shaftesbury Society.

In the video clip below, senior research scholar Robert Graboyes distinguishes between a “fortress” approach and a “frontier” approach to health care, with CON laws representing the “fortress” mentality. Research scholar Christopher Koopman quantifies CON’s impact on North Carolina.

Click here to watch the full 50:31 event.