Who’s to say that the medical benefit of many friends or relatives visiting is worth less than a house.

Doctors and medical researchers are in a position to say what the effects of public policy are on public health. And they’re saying that car-centric urban design has a negative impact on it, and that we should be building transit and pedestrian oriented urban environments instead.

In general activities that have a negative impact on society should be discouraged, and certainly not subsidized so that they’re favored over the alternatives. There are many ways to make it easy to visit a hospital, not the least of which is simply allowing people to live in close proximity to one, which is something that has a positive impact on medical outcomes.