You can't compare the US standard of care with the rest of the world's standard of care. If you want equivalent costs to the rest of the world, expect the US expectation of care, turnaround time, and time-to-service to decrease drastically.

You have a habit of posting in healthcare threads and denigrating physicians. Your favorite replacement (midlevels) do not make less money. They are only paid less money; the hospital gets either equivalent (Oregon) or about 85% of that paid to a physician. You are getting WORSE care for the same price when you see an NP or PA. This is why I personally avoid seeing them.

You have a huge trust in the US government that large swaths of the population simply do not have. Have you spoken to many veteran's about their experience in the VA healthcare system? Some VAs with academic affiliations are ok....many...are not. Do you think the government now doesn't already massively regulate healthcare through CMS mandates?