It's insane because it covers a very narrow range of topics. We make people doctors after 8 years of study, only a few of which involve actual practice.
If you are, individuals who ultimately care for patients must complete college (4 years), medical school (>4 years), and a residency program (3+ years).
Thus, training to be a physician in the US would require at least 11 years, of which at least five (the last five) would involve extensive patient contact.
whether you'd actually get admitted without one is an exercise for the reader
There are accelerated bachelors+MD programs that high schoolers can apply to; these would shave off two years of overall training time. Notably, despite being accelerated programs, these grant a bachelors degree before program participants advance to medical school.
EDIT: I'm aware that this used to be the case but I don't believe that any schools still allow this.
I mean sushi is just cutting fish right? Just like programming is just typing instructions into a computer, or painting is just smearing pigments on a surface. Nothing to it. :)