Michigan’s health care boom is reshaping its economy — and its skyline

Henry Ford Health is reportedly weighing a purchase of the former General Motors Building, now called Cadillac Place, for its headquarters, as it also spends $2.2 billion building a 20-story hospital nearby. GM itself left the building decades ago, moved to the Renaissance Center, and this year relocated its actual headquarters to Dan Gilbert's Hudson's Detroit building, reportedly employing more people at a Silicon Valley tech center than in Detroit.

The building swap tracks a broader shift: the University of Michigan has committed more than $1.4 billion to new hospital and outpatient facilities, including a $360 million center rising on the site of former Kmart headquarters in Troy. Corewell Health and Munson Healthcare are also expanding, and Michigan hospitals hired 58,000 workers last year while seeking 23,000 more, with payrolls hitting $51.4 billion, more than two and a half times what automakers paid in wages.

Not everyone calls this healthy. Bret Jackson of the Economic Alliance for Michigan argues hospitals are competing for market share rather than price or quality, pointing to three health systems clustering ambulatory centers at a single Livonia intersection, with the bill ultimately landing on employers and other industries. Rex Burgdorfer counters that hospitals are 'price takers' constrained by managed care, while the state projects nearly 400,000 more residents over 65 by 2035.

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