> This is one reason why every winter the National Health Service runs campaigns telling people "do you really need to see your doctor?" and poor people in particular go "yes we do".
The other reason (At least in the US and Canada) for why poor/'poor' people go and see their doctor when they have a cold, is because their boss expects a doctor's note for a sick-with-the-cold day.
Such campaigns are as much targeted at the patient, as it is at their employers. Doctors don't want to deal with non-serious seasonal infections, and they don't want patients seeking a doctor's note to get their other patients sick.
Phoned up work to tell them I was on the first day of a bad cold and needed a day off. They say no problem but you MUST get a doctor's note. So I phone the GP and they tell me they can see me in 2 weeks' time, I go along as ordered - the cold's completely better by then of course - and ask for a note to say that I had a cold 2 weeks ago, which I duly get and hand in to my employer. Everyone's happy, free at the point of service etc.
Employers in the UK aren't supposed to ask for one if it's less than seven days (I don't know if they aren't allowed to, but I and my immediate family have never worked anywhere they have):
> If you're off work sick for seven days or less, your employer shouldn't ask for medical evidence that you've been ill. Instead they can ask you to confirm that you've been ill.
yes, thank you. Fortunately I no longer work for employers like that, but as an entry-level low-level employee, you are automatically looked at with suspicion by most employers. If you need a sick day, you have to get a doctor's note, which is an outrageous waste of everybody's resources.
The other reason (At least in the US and Canada) for why poor/'poor' people go and see their doctor when they have a cold, is because their boss expects a doctor's note for a sick-with-the-cold day.
Such campaigns are as much targeted at the patient, as it is at their employers. Doctors don't want to deal with non-serious seasonal infections, and they don't want patients seeking a doctor's note to get their other patients sick.