In France (Paris area), the price for a dental visit including 1-2 xrays is €42.00[2]. This is the pre-negotiated rate between dentists and the state insurer. Dentists are free to charge more but they must display prominent signage indicating they don't follow standard rates.

[1] Peruse this catalog and notice the European companies in here. http://www.medicalexpo.fr/fabricant-medical/systeme-radiogra...

[2] https://www.ameli.fr/essonne/chirurgien-dentiste/exercice-li...

I would assume they try to get a profit anywhere they sell it. Which means $20 x-ray is a realistic profitable cost per x-ray. But the US healthcare is so broken that they manage to extract 10x more money out of it.

Imagine you're a French pharma company. You know the US is the richest country in the world and spends a quarter of its massive GDP on healthcare. When you put together R&D budgets, it makes sense that you plan to recoup most of your investment in the US, and that US FDA approval is one of your most important goals.

Of course they want a profit anywhere they sell it. But the calculation would change if the US health care system weren't so "messed up." You may not make the investment at all, because you couldn't recoup it over a reasonable timeline without the margins you get in the US.

The US rewards advanced medical tech development more than any other country. There are many things wrong with our system, and this might be related to some of them. But on its own, it belongs in the W column.

isn't most of it for wasteful reasons.

>There are many things wrong with our system

Many people are saying this often, seems like people have just surrendered and submitted themselves to organized skillful abuse by such systems. Wish we have more cumulative willpower than present.

In all it is definitely not an American affair.