The problem is that in my country you cannot get a prescription without a doctor’s appointment. What happens (at least with me) is that I wait to see if I get better by myself.
> You're right. Health care should be like sex. Free only, illegal otherwise, immoral regardless. There should be laws to enforce this.
Nowhere did I claim that. What I meant was that doctors have a conflict of interest. On the one hand they should care for your health and on the other hand they should make as much money as possible. That causes a lot of doctors to prescribe unnecessary tests and perform unnecessary x-rays. In my country there was a law that allowed doctors to sell medicine (usually a pharmacy had to be owned by a pharmacist). This caused a lot of doctors to give out overly expensive medicine that people do not need.
> Say no.
And the doctor will tell you that it is really necessary. Since most people do not know the field they will believe the doctor with blind trust.
> Also, doctors prescribe generally prescribe what will be most likely to work the fastest because ---if you remember from a century ago--- bacterial infections kill you and then spread to your friends and family to kill them.
They actually do that to make money (see above).
> They don't care that you can save $30 with some similar drug they don't know much about.
Those “similar drugs” are run of the mill anti-biotics that have been on the market for 20+ years.