>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).

Just out of curiosity, what's the difference, if any, in medical training? I've always understood that the reason doctors charge a lot is because they spend 11 or more years (4 years of college, 4 years of med school, minimum of 3 years residency) post-high school getting trained.

Tamar