It is well-known that there are problems in the health care industry. From the government and private-insurance perspective, health care costs are increasing too quickly and bills for services are simply too high. On the other hand, health care workers are paid less than comparably trained workers in other fields.
Nurses especially are underpaid.
Part of the reason is that the vast majority of nurses are women, and women historically, in our society, have been paid less than men for similar work. And many health care workers enter the field out of a sense of service to humanity and caring. For that reason, some feel that they are giving of themselves for a worthy cause, even if under paid. Even though many health care staff are underpaid, top and middle-level executives of large health care and pharmaceutical corporations routinely receive salaries in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions. Costs for medications, and equipment continually go up.