Bonefish, My guess is you're too young to have had to deal with much of this. Of course, but I have a lot of friends who are doctors and pharmacists.
It's a lot more complicated than the way you put it. And that's where the mistrust can form. You don't know whether the doctor really needs to see you because of medical guidelines or because he just wants more money. You don't know whether the tests and the referrals are actually necessary because, frankly speaking, neither do the doctors themselves. That's why they have to know for sure.
That's not to say that there aren't any corrupt or incompetent doctors out there. I remember having a PCP that did all sorts of tests on me when I had a cold that just wouldn't go away. When the cold finally did go away, he never followed up on any of the test results, even for the anomalies that led him to do more tests on me. It's like, "Oh he's better now, let's leave him alone," but WTF did he do all those tests for in the first place if in the end my condition was so easily dismissible?
Anyway, I'd be suspicious of any doctor that just says, "Oh, I can't renew that prescription over the phone, just come in and I'll do it. And don't worry, your insurance will cover the visit, and the copay isn't that much anyway, and besides, you want your meds, don't you?" That's kinda jacked, BWDIK? It might be more common than I imagine.
Tenchusatsu |
