> I have noticed that it's become popular on HN to refer to parts of the healthcare industry as "rent seeking," and while I agree to some extent, I haven't seen much evidence that doctors or medical schools themselves are rent seeking.

If we get a cold and need time off we need to visit a GP, this is rent seeking that could easily be handled by a non doctor for half the price.

As for the other points, that's just a matter of having escalation procedures. The current system has highly paid specialists doing front line technical support.