Sure, the number on a physician's pay cheque might be higher in the US, but I'll bet that number was gross earnings, not net pay. I highly doubt they have such loan debt and malpractice insurance payments in other countries, either. Furthermore, were they looking at the ones with cushy private practices or the people in the trenches in hospitals? Big difference. And they outnumber the private practitioners. I know too many struggling MDs to believe the 'overpaid doctor' myth.

The real reason is insurance companies. They fucked up the pricing framework so thoroughly that providers have to charge huge amounts just to get any sort of recompense at all, which the insurance company then promptly throws to the patient while keeping the sky-high premiums in the pockets of the CEOs. The patients dot have that kind of scratch, so providers remain unpaid and have to hike prices further.

I was injured in a cycling crash last year. I spent a total of four weeks in a sling after the crash; I was given one in the ER, and two more after the first surgery. After the second surgery, six months later, I was given yet another damned sling--which I begged my doctor to not make me wear, because they fucking suck. Anyway...I recently got a bill for $25 in the mail from the supplier of the final "Deluxe Sling," an item I am certain costs no more than a buck to manufacture--and that I damned well didn't even need with three others sitting around in a drawer. I'm super pissed and probably going to demand a payment plan just to be an asshole. It is "deluxe" after all.