Is it a "Restriction" or an "Improvement"?

What is the difference between a "restriction" and an "improvement"?  That question came to the forefront recently in discussions of healthcare issues.  For example, if people buying health insurance policies on the Obamacare website can only get coverage for doctors who are "in network" with absolutely no coverage for "out of network" doctors, is that a restriction or an improvement?  To hear the media coverage or the discussions of the issue coming from the Democrats, this limitation on available doctors is a great improvement in healthcare.  At the same time, there is a new Texas statute that requires that abortion clinics in the state have at least one doctor who has admitting privileges at a hospital within thirty miles of the clinic.  The stated reason for the law is to make sure that the clinics are safe and can adequately protect the health of the women using those facilities.  The same media and politicians who saw the Obamacare limitation as an improvement nevertheless see this limitation on doctors who perform abortions in Texas as a restriction.

I fully realize that there are those who see this pair of limitations completely in the reverse way:  the abortion rule is an improvement while the Obamacare limit is a restriction.  The issue, however, should not turn the use of these words.  We ought to be able as a society to regulate issues relating to healthcare so as to protect the public.  Everyone loses when the definitions used are designed to pre-judge an issue before it is even considered.