Published: Thursday, May 30, 2013 at 11:19 AM.

Competition its a good thing for consumers, right?

Yes, if you believe in the American way of free markets.

No, if you are bureaucrats who create government rules on health care until recently. There is evidence that Raleigh rule-makers are seeing the light on competition in health care.

How it plays out is up to the N.C. Court of Appeals in a case involving CaroMont, a group of Piedmont region doctors and the state Department of Health and Human Services.

The outcome could determine whether people have a local choice in where they get health screenings for colorectal cancer, one of the most common cancers for men and women.

Not just anyone can build one of these screening centers. A certificate of need CON in health-care lingo first must first be granted from the state.

According to what has been the governments misguided economic theory, the CON requirement holds down health care costs by limiting options for patients.

In reality, its just the opposite. Competition drives down costs and, best of all, gives consumers choice based on factors that are important to them.

CaroMont Health in Gastonia secured a CON, but before its screening center was built, the state granted another CON to a group of area doctors. The health care giant now is suing in an effort to block another screening center that local physicians want to open.

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Editorial: Court ruling could expand health care