I think this is to do with the general across the board skills shortage in Australia (we have smaller population compared to other developed countries) and not that doctors are not making enough money.
That's pretty much what happens here, though we don't pay 4,000 in taxes, are you sure that figure is correct? But personally, I'm a bit surprised by this point of view which goes something like "why should I give money to support all these parasites". What about contributing towards a system which will help you out if ever you have a misfortune of an expesnive surgery that would otherwise send you bankrupt? Doesn't it feel good to know that if a disaster strikes you willl have something to fall back on? What about compassion towards those who are less fortunate than you? I don't understand why the less fortunate are always so dehumanized in US, it's not like a rich fat cat who doesn't deserve it is going to cheat you out of your hard earned money here and get all the free surgeries they can eat while making millions on the side, the people who will use these services will be the ones who are in a real bind, you wouldn't want to be in their shoes. That's what I don't understand and I guess, the reason why I started this thread.
Does it really cost that much to spend a weekend in the hospital for monitoring? Or are these 10 times over inflated prices squezed by private sector? How come it was so expensive, were they charging $10,000 for a bed? That's another thing I was thinking about, I wonder how many unethical practices are going on in the health industry in US at the moment that would get cleaned up by some proper regulation.