It’s complicated. Hospitals aren’t necessarily making big bucks. They have insane expenses. There are lots investments that are recouped in the doctors office:

It’s complicated. Hospitals aren’t necessarily making big bucks. They have insane expenses. There are lots investments that are recouped in the doctors office: paying for medical school, buying downtown real estate, decades of medical research, etc. Nobody says “we have $50 million to invest, let’s build a hospital.” Although investors occasionally buy them. I don’t think US hospitals are for profit in the sense they have shareholder demanding a return on investment. Doctors who have the ability to make lots of cash usually break out on their own asap. So there’s probably some profit seeking, but not a lot. I know plenty of folks who work for non-profit hospitals, and it’s a total mess. But it it’s usually organization chaos, and not profit seeking. But I’ve heard stories of venture capital firms buying and shutting down hospitals, but never building them.