And it's hard to find a cleric of high enough level.
This is super true. Most temples have a cleric for doing minor healing or even curing disease or poison if you're lucky... but raising the dead? That's not easy and it's one of the reasons Raise Dead has a ten day limit - It's long enough to get to the next big city to have your buddy raised but it's not long enough for you to ditch his body for a few days while you recover your injuries. It's also why you need a big fucking diamond to do it; it's not the kind of thing you're going to find on short notice in some podunk town.
However, this is also one of the things I disapprove of in 5th edition. In old editions, you might not have a local cleric that is strong enough to Raise Dead but you could probably find a druid who could Reincarnate him. It was easier, cheaper, but you had the risk of coming back as something you really don't want to be, like a bear or something. In 5th, it's the same level as Raise Dead, costs twice as much in components, and you no longer have a chance of coming back as something other than a PC race in the Player's Guide. I guess it's nice if you only have a druid but it's still lame.