If the REITs own the bricks & mortar of the health care industry, they will survive - in my opinion - as the owners of the ONLY places to receive appropriate levels of care that are less expensive than acute care facilities. With Medicare and private insurances (also private funds, I guess) paying the majority of hospital stay expenses, patients will continue to be "managed" to the lowest cost setting that can still meet the needs of the patient. This system of care management, despite its shortcomings, works pretty well as people age, with alternative settings providing a lower-cost environment in which to deliver services vs. the acute setting. Moreover, hospitals will continue, in my opinion, to be burdened by the aging of Baby Boomers, and such alternatives as SNFs and ALFs will continue to be discharge destinations (sometimes for long term) vs. home, where visits are limited or non-existent and where patients get lonely. The psychological and social benefits of facility life are an intangible one cannot receive at home alone. I like REITs - especially health care - for these reasons...long term leases on properties for which the demand will continue to grow. I personally have been successful at obtaining care for my dad outside a facility, but have realized throughout the experience that someone in my same situation but without the knowledge necessary to navigate the system would be lost or confused without the care management system that exists to populate REITs' facilities.