I'm looking for evidence that socialized medicine does not increase "frivolous" visits.

[laundry_queen]

45. Exactly.

Where I am, in Canada, I can go to the doctor whenever I want, no co-pay. NO ONE that I know abuses that. They may go for things that are 'minor' but that just means they save the system money in the long run by going before things get serious and cost lots of money. But really, no one LIKES going to the doctor and most people in my family avoid it if they can. I'm sure there ARE people who abuse it, but for the most part, people like that get ridiculed and shamed here for 'wasting taxpayer's dollars'. It's rare enough I've only heard about it through 3rd person stories. And most people don't go to the ER unless it's serious or they can't find a 24 hour clinic and something is very uncomfortable.

I lived in a remote area that only had 'business hours' doctor's offices and once I went to the ER with strep throat. Sounds frivolous right? I had a mild sore throat on Friday and by the time I called the clinic on Friday afternoon, they couldn't get me in. I thought I'd try to tough it out till Monday. I bought numbing losenges and some Tylenol. By Saturday morning, I couldn't even swallow my spit, and I was carrying around tissue because I was drooling. I was in so much pain (seriously the worst sore throat I've ever had, and I used to get strep and tonsillitis all the time as a kid) I couldn't eat or drink. The numbing losenges only made a dent in the pain for a few minutes at a time and soon I had run out. I thought I'd have a look in the mirror at my tonsils to see what was going on - and oh my. It was awful. My tonsils looked as if I was a burn victim on the inside - all my skin had turned white and was coming off the inside of my throat. I was also running a high fever. So, I reluctantly went to the ER. I felt like it was so stupid to go to the ER for a sore throat, but the ER doc told me that I had a really bad case of strep and there's no way it could've waited until Monday. He said sometimes with strep that bad, it can become more systemic so it's important to get it treated quickly and that was exactly what the ER was for. Now that I'm in a large metropolitan area, I could probably find a 24 hour clinic and not have to go to the ER.

Another positive (I think this was addressed upthread) is that if a doctor thinks, for instance, antibiotics are unnecessary, they don't feel the need to prescribe them to keep that person from coming back to save that person money from a co-pay or if they don't have insurance. If, by chance, you get worse and DO later on need antibiotics, then there is no hesitation in going back. But generally, most people don't NEED them so most people will get better without them, which is good for stopping the growing antibiotic resistance of bacteria. The few that come back truly DO need them. And most people will go back because they don't have to worry about paying. When people have to worry about paying, doctors are going to be prescribing things just to make sure their patients don't have to come back, or to make sure that they will be okay if they decide coming back is too expensive if they get worse. A person isn't treated with their insurance status in mind - they are treated solely on the basis of the problems they present with. And that actually saves money in the long run too - they aren't loaded up with treatments they may not need to ensure they don't have to come back.

Anyway, this whole 'people go to the doctor all the time for every sniffle with socialized medicine' stuff is crap, in my experience.