Obamacare’s Ban on Doctor-Owned Hospitals Has Backfired
As the health-care sector rapidly consolidates, the market needs more competition, not less.
The law had its imperfections.
Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America
Lawyers can own law firms. Bankers can own banks. But thanks to the Affordable Care Act, doctors are effectively banned from owning hospitals. At a time when the rapidly consolidating hospital market needs more competition, not less, keeping this poorly conceived provision on the books makes little sense. Congress should repeal it.
America’s first hospital was owned by a doctor, and physician-owned facilities were fairly common through the 1930s and 1940s. It wasn’t until the mid-20th century that the concept began to recede — partly thanks to new laws that provided federal funding for public institutions and tax-exempt community hospitals. Physician-owned hospitals re-emerged decades later in response to growing demand for specialization. They took off in the early 2000s, roughly split between specialty hospitals that focus on a limited set of procedures and full-service community hospitals.