In Thailand, where medical care is both cheap and good, most of it takes place in hospitals. You can still find clinics, but people usually go to a full-blown h

In Thailand, where medical care is both cheap and good, most of it takes place in hospitals. You can still find clinics, but people usually go to a full-blown hospital when they have health-related issues. Inpatient treatment is much more common here than in the US, in fact from my American perspective it sometimes feels like they overtreat (lots of tests, prescriptions, IVs, and overnight stays for minor ailments). I would have thought that treatment at a hospital would generally be better--they're larger than clinics, they have more equipment and more specialists. Though I wouldn't be surprised if clinics had certain advantages like a more personal relationship with your doctor. All this is to say that in a market where health care is both cheap and good, hospitals aren't going away and people are spending more time in them. I wouldn't be surprised if the decline of hospitals in the US was about costs like you say.