On: After Appalachian hospitals merged, their ERs beca...

[skidd0]

You might not have realized how this monopoly was granted. It wasn't a free market decision, it was state sanctioned.

[nkrisc → skidd0]

A state-sanctioned monopoly means the state did not interfere in preventing the monopoly in the first place.

[saalweachter → skidd0]

The state forced these hospitals to merge over the objection of their owners?

[akira2501 → skidd0]

That almost makes it sound like "the state" did it for fun and that money wasn't somehow involved.