Why hospital visitation rights has anything to do with goverment policy is beyond me. Heck, if you want to let your neighbor visit you in the hospital, I don't see why that shouldn't be allowed. If the hospital wants to say no, then let them say no - let the hospital set the policies based on what's logical to make the hospital run well.
I don't see what's wrong with the government guaranteeing a right for people to see their loved ones when they are in a hospital or prison, in fact that seems a fundamentally good thing. Besides as with so many other things, while it may not be desirable to have the government involved without them it would be far worse. If hospitals were allowed to set their own policy it would take a matter of weeks before we saw gays or unmarried couples being barred from one hospital or another, and that's not a price worth paying.
Removing a guarantee seems more a case of less government for less governments sake than anything which would help patients.
