I've heard of that requirement before (of course the artifical limiting of the numbers of doctors able to start practicing every year is somewhat a similar type

I've heard of that requirement before (of course the artifical limiting of the numbers of doctors able to start practicing every year is somewhat a similar type of practice,) but I'd be curious to see what the original rationale for the Certificate of Need program was. Is '[too much] competition' not supposedly the bedrock of our Wonderful System of Market Capitalism?