Problem:
The traditional principle of freedom of contract, which a physician may choose to enter or not, governs the physician-patient relationship (albeit with several caveats). This traditional focus is consistent with a view of health care as an ordinary consumer good whose supply and demand should be subject to free market principles--a view that has dominated the United States approach to health care for much of its history. The countervailing view that health care is an essential public good to which everyone should have access has garnered increasing support and is an underlying principle in the Affordable Care Act, EMTALA and other state and federal legislation. These laws create legal obligations, particularly for hospitals, the classic health care "institution," to provide care under certain circumstances and raise questions about how to allocate resources and who should bear the cost of such care.
Discuss as an opinion the above statement and its impact on hospitals.