That’s because she had savings. next one, everyone will pay for.
For the truly indigent, unless they qualify for medicare and it is a medicare-covered issue, the price is paid by all those insured; you are paying $100 for aspirin and 4 times the rate for an MRI so they can afford the bed and the operation for the guy in the next bed who has no insurance, no savings, and low income but is critical enough that they must treat him.
And it’s not just the US. There are a huge number of Indian doctors in most English-speaking countries; even more in the UK than in the US, in fact.
Also, it used to be the case that physicians didn’t make any money in India; when my parents moved to the UK their earnings increased something like eightfold in absolute terms (even though my mother had to go through residency again!) It probably would have been something more on the order or 2000% if they’d moved to the US.
The physician brain drain has slowed a bit over the last 20ish years because there is a bit more earning parity.
Yet another personal anecdote on the importance of knowledge and leverage:
A relative had surgery and the bills are finally starting to get resolved. The hospital billed $1200 for a sub-procedure. The insurance company decided it was $66.
That was the worst one, but several other components were reduced significantly.
If you don’t know about the “real cost” and have the leverage to demand it, you’re screwed.
Also, be careful of “walk by” people in the hospital. That physical therapist just “checking in to see if you need anything” (and you might mistake for a nurse or something), will bill you for a 1+ hour therapy session.
Aside from all the math and GDP, for 50 years the alternative was ‘socialized’ medicine. To propose messing with the system was un-American, if not ani-American: So tight had lobbyists and PR wrapped this industry in the flag. It has been the most beautiful long con in the history of capitalism and makes the tobacco industry and its grotesque achievement seem insignificant.
Fascinating to see in this thread the arguments have (finally) been pretty well won and lost.