Healthcare and College

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This is meant to be a serious discussion with no real push towards either side of the political spectrum. It is more a discussion about what people think may help to fix the problem not their issues with politics hence why it is in the USA section and not the POLITICS section. --- There are many people without healthcare who simply can't afford it. Now I've been wondering if the rising costs of healthcare have to do with going to college for health professions in the USA. I am interested in hearing people's responses that DO NOT have to do with our obviously corrupt government officials on both sides. (The following numbers are just random but not far off from actual numbers seen on medical bills.... higher or lower depending on area) -The doctor's office- You get sick and should probably see a doctor. You call and make an appointment. Once you go to the doctor's office. You sign in, sign some other papers and then wait up to 30 minutes for your physician. You go in, get asked questions, get diagnosed and then leave. A few days later you get your doctor's office bill. You have to pay $350 for your visit. The doctor's fee is $200.00. Then you have the things that were used during your visit and the minor lab fees. On top of that, you have no insurance so your medications cost you about $40. -The Hospital- You need to go to the ER and you are very sick. You could barely move and thus you had to take an ambulance. You get to the ER. You wait for a doctor and the doctor comes in, orders some tests you probably don't need, orders for some medications to be given, and then after a bit you are cleared to go. A bit later you get the bill. Not only were you charged $800 for your ER visit as in the room. The doctor's fee was a total of $350. The medication you were given which was equivalent to Motrin costs $60 when the same medication would have cost you about $6 at the local grocery store. Another $400 for tests and lab fees and then the ambulance costs you $100 on top of whatever you had to pay in prescriptions let's say it was $80. So roughly about $1,790. If you have insurance for either, they may not completely cover your expenses or raise your premiums the next year. What does that have to do with college? To become a doctor you have to get a bachelor's degree and then go to med school. In some places, a master's degree is required before starting med school. Medical assisting degrees/certificates aren't that cheap either. Many insurance companies prefer to have people with bachelor's degrees in accounting, finance, business and a few others in order to discuss how much should be paid from the company and how much they need to get from the people etc. And pharmacists and pharmacy researches and more also pay a lot for school. Which means the majority of people who are in these professions probably have student loans (either private or federal) to pay off. In order for them to make enough money, they charge high prices for even the most routine of care or for insurance high deductibles or include co-pays. This is only one theory but by this logic, health care prices truly go up as college goes up since these people need to pay off expensive loans be it federal or private from their schooling. Do you think that the cost of college in the U.S. for medical and business type (insurance only for this question) degrees has an affect on how much our healthcare system costs? Do you think that is why most doctors will ask you to take more tests than you need in order to all parties involved to make more money to pay off their own debts? Do you think this is a fair trade off or that for some of their care they should recalculate the amounts they are charging you?