You could argue that the reason outpatient care is so high in the US is because people who can't afford, insurance or otherwise, for "normal" care only go to th

You could argue that the reason outpatient care is so high in the US is because people who can't afford, insurance or otherwise, for "normal" care only go to the hospital when their condition becomes acute and emergency departments that can't turn away people have to treat them. You could probably argue that in this case acute treatment cost is higher because the primary condition has been left untreated for so long ; xref the stories of poor children dying from tooth abscesses, something that could normally be treated with $15 worth of antibiotics and $25 worth of dental work; tooth pulled, hardly aesthetic but it works. That $40 of timely intervention is probably hundreds cheaper than a child presenting to emergency with septicemia.