![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/leguna/23x19JQpESXUo3Ddkm5qB2jkbY1ehs4fA43UHAcbx4UQP3dF3Cdxvz1Le4e12xHwpDy6Z.png)


The US has 328 million people. 
205 million people in 1970. 
Up 60% 

The US has 6,090 hospitals. 
It had 7,123 hospitals in 1970. 
Down 14%

The US has 985,000 practicing doctors. 
It had 334,000 in 1970. 
Up 194% 

The US had 3.4 million registered nurses.
It had 722,000 in 1970. 
Up 372% 

We discuss the price of healthcare a lot and I don’t think anyone looks at the second number enough. 

Doctors & nurse growth has surpassed population growth and that’s a good thing. 

Hospitals and other clinics are down over the last 50 years. 
Obviously a lot of them have expanded in size, but the process most states have for opening up hospitals is very weird. 

It’s not just… 

Safety & health standards?
Check
Qualified staff?
Check
Required equipment?
Check

Instead, every state has some sort of wall where they require proof or public need and it makes it nearly impossible to open up a hospital. 

It makes it so a hospital 20 miles away can prevent another group from opening one up citing it as competition. 

Competition, which has been the foundation for better products, services and prices is the leading excuse to prevent a place from opening. 

Writing this, I don’t think it’d be the only fix, but it’s just confusing how on a 50 year scale, we’re down on hospitals and up 60% on people and no one talks about that as a serious issue.