Hospitals are government owned. The reason for this is to reduce cost of operations, and assure that communities (even rural ones) will have access to hospitals. There have been too many stories where a health network purchases a small but essential hospital only to close down because it wasn’t making enough of a profit – therefore forcing the people that relied on that hospital with having to go to one that might be hours aways, or not meet the needs of the patient.
If all of the hospitals are government owned, and controlled, then that would mean that the government will actually save money since they don’t have to pay hospital prices for inpatient stays. The government will still have to pay for staff, drugs, and machines – but this will be cheaper than paying a for profit hospital system. Some people may argue that a government hospital network will not be in the best interest as the perceived quality will be lower. However, this is the government’s issue, and not an issue with the concept itself. Since healthcare is considered as an essential right, then the government must make for quality healthcare. This will also mean fewer hospitals since there aren’t network of hospitals competing for patients. In systems where the government does not own the hospital networks, there could be 2 different hospitals within the same community which stretches the doctors, and medical staff thin as they will compete with 2 hospitals rather than 1.