I think he’s just stating a fact as evidenced by the below:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/nurse-salaries-rise-as-demand-for-their-services-soars-during-covid-19-pandemic-11637145000
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/covid-travel-nurses/2021/12/05/550b15fc-4c71-11ec-a1b9-9f12bd39487a_story.html
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wsj.com/amp/articles/high-pay-for-covid-19-nurses-leads-to-shortages-at-some-hospitals-11630253483
Also, I’m not sure your statement that “everyone pays the bills” is valid here. Hospitals/hospital administrators pay the bills. My boss’ wife is a hospital admin in NYC and she’s said that a lot of Northeast hospitals have struggled to be profitable because of problems with labor retention and wage inflation. I would imagine that’s the case in many places around the country. When hospitals aren’t profitable and they start closing, that’s a problem for everybody.
Maybe you should think about this the next time you complain about someone’s knowledge being limited.