HCR Update from Mark Sanna: Doctors are paid higher fees in the United States than in several other countries, and this is a major factor in the nation’s higher overall cost of health care, says a new study by two Columbia University professors, one of whom is now a top health official in the Obama administration. “U.S. primary care physicians earn about 1/2 more than do their counterparts elsewhere because a much larger share of their incomes is derived from private insurance,” the study said.