[freddie_mercury]

That may explain the overall lack of doctors in the US but seems irrelevant to this thread about rural healthcare.

All you have to do is look at other countries and see the same issue playing out. Germany, Vietnam, and Australia are all very different from the US, and from one another, and all have issues with rural health care.

The reality is that low populations make it hard to provide any service and most of the "first world infrastructure" they do have is provided by federal or state/provincial government (i.e. not their own tax base). They aren't attractive places to live for many professionals, who usually trained in bigger cities and are used to small comforts like being able to eat a variety of cuisines or seeing live events (sports, music, drama) or having good schools for their children. The cost structure and (relatively) low demand affect the financial side of the equation. Etc etc.

Many countries allow "foreign doctors" provided they do some kind of provincial work (think of the old comedy series Northern Exposure) but that hasn't exactly proven to be a panacea.