>>True - it's cheap in Serbia (just like pretty much everything), but not relatively cheap. The general cost of everything else was 1:3 (a beer on a hotel terrace or in a cafe would be about $1.30, and so is the price of food, taxi and most of other things), but medicine is, amazingly - 1:10. I'd rather say the medical industry in the US is overcharging by a factor of 2 or more. And I'm not comparing apples and oranges: it was for uninsured, out-of-pocket payment to a for-profit service (i.e. private practice dentist).
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>That's how the system works. When doctors are considered a fair game, patients become fair game for doctors.

I agree completely, except that I wouldn't call it a system. It's an industry, that's how they call themselves anyway.