Stephan:   I live in a rural area. We have one civilian hospital on the island, which we own as a community.  About five years ago a big hospital corporation wanted to buy it. Just the kind of thing described in this article. We had a  big public debate on the subject. I was against the sale and it didn't happen, and everyone is now very happy it didn't, because if it had it would almost certainly have meant the closing of the hospital. It's too small to be really profitable. Having our hospital and an excellent EMT operation makes a big difference to those of us who live out here, and certainly me. I feel very sorry for the communities described in this piece. The closing of American rural hospitals is just another example of profit over wellness. Other countries are building hospitals, and expanding the medical safety net in everything from prenatal care to end-of-life care. In the U.S. as this sad story explains the Illness Profit System is closing hospitals.  We also need an additional 58,000 primary care physicians. There are large parts of the rural U.S. where there is only one doctor, or none at all. As a society our obsession  that profit is the only thing that matters, is leading to self-mutilate.