Consumer Watchdog Coalition Demands Answers from ECU Health and New York-Presbyterian as Families Struggle Under Crushing Medical Costs

ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumer Action for a Strong Economy (CASE) and a coalition of consumer watchdogs are intensifying their nationwide crackdown on soaring healthcare costs, targeting what they call one of the leading causes of medical inflation in America: powerful hospital systems and their opaque pricing practices.

This week, CASE sent formal accountability and transparency demands to ECU Health in North Carolina and healthcare giant NewYork-Presbyterian, seeking answers about skyrocketing hospital prices, hidden billing practices, aggressive consolidation, administrative excess, and policies that critics say are pushing millions of Americans deeper into medical debt.

The groups emphasize how "hospital prices have increased at rates far exceeding inflation, with hospital care now accounting for a significant and growing share of household healthcare spending. Patients and employers alike are bearing the consequences through higher premiums, deductibles, and out-of-pocket costs."

The letters mark the latest escalation of CASE's expanding Hospital Facts campaign — a national consumer watchdog initiative exposing how hospitals allegedly inflate prices behind closed doors while patients get stuck with higher premiums, deductibles, surprise bills, and out-of-pocket costs.

"Americans are being crushed by healthcare costs, and hospitals are increasingly acting like unchecked corporate monopolies," said Gerard Scimeca, Chairman of Consumer Action for a Strong Economy. "Patients deserve answers, transparency, and real reforms—not excuses."

Hospital prices have outpaced inflation for years, fueling what advocates describe as a full-blown healthcare affordability crisis devastating working families, seniors, employers, and rural communities.

"Hospital executives keep demanding more taxpayer support while families are forced to choose between paying medical bills and paying rent," said Matt Kandrach, President of CASE. "Enough is enough. Consumers deserve real transparency, real competition, and real accountability."

This is part of CASE's campaign to hold hospitals accountable for the rising costs of healthcare and a broader effort to rein in healthcare inflation and restore accountability to the healthcare system by spotlighting hospital waste, fraud, abuse, and anti-consumer pricing practices nationwide.

"For years, hospitals have operated in a black box where prices rise endlessly and consumers are expected to just pay up," Scimeca added. "We're pulling back the curtain."

The letters were co-signed by the Institute for Liberty, Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, American Consumer Institute, Consumer Choice Center, American Principles Project, Family Research Council, Frontiers of Freedom, National Association of Christian Lawmakers, and Hispanic Leadership Fund.

For more information, visit HospitalFacts.org.

Media Contact:
Gerard Scemica
[email protected]
Consumer Action for a Strong Economy (CASE)

SOURCE Consumer Action for a Strong Economy (CASE)