Comment Re:And we're surprised why? (Score 1) 392
I wouldn't be surprised if it happened.
In my home town, the one hospital demanded that another not be opened up in the townships surrounding it citing they would be unable to maintain a profit and have to close down. The second hospital was to be placed near a busy highway about 25 minutes from the original hospital and the through was that it could shave 20 minutes off the transport time and save lives.
Anyways, the other hospital was defeated and the zoning board wouldn't let them build. So the local hospital decided it needed to expand and promptly purchased all the property on the block and started building on to the hospital. The issue about the travel time came up again and another hospital from out of town wanted to open one. Well, the main hospital kicked up a storm again until the outside hospital agreed to only be an emergency room and outpatient surgery hospital and somehow, the two ended up going in as partners. But they located it a little further out but still near the busy highway so transport is still quicker from the highway but you are basically looking at another 30 minutes or so if you drive by the old hospital in order to go to the new one.
This was about 15 years ago. People in government has changed since then but I think this type of protectionism will still happen today if someone wanted to open another hospital. The new one had been expanded as part of the old one since it's inception.