[the_d3f4ult]

> US doctors seemed really eager to waste money, like really eager, like it was creepy

Your last point is purely a function of the liability culture in the states. US physicians are quite aware of what's appropriate and what's inappropriate testing wise. However, as long as a physician can be held personally liable for any oversight - meaning that the results of an entire career can be lost - they're going to over-test.

[jholman]

Purely a function of liability culture? That seems like an extraordinary claim, your claim that there are no other causes. Do you have extraordinary evidence?

I'll note that I do have a few different bits of modest evidence to the contrary. But I wanted to focus my comment on concrete observations (both the large-scale statistical kind, and the personal anecdotal kind), rather than on speculation.