[northern_lights]

"Most things are simple, and it doesn't require years of school to set a bone or put in some stitches, or even diagnose the flu or pneumonia."

The thing is...when that fracture extends into the joint capsule, or is in multiple pieces and needs a surgical repair, you'll want the doctor around to manage that.

When that flu weakens your immune system and causes you to get a superimposed bacterial pneumonia, you'll want the doctor around to manage that.

The days when a doctor could make a living managing only simple problems are long gone, if they ever existed. These days, PAs and NPs handle the majority of healthcare's equivalent to CRUD applications, and physicians handle the complicated cases.

I have noticed that it's become popular on HN to refer to parts of the healthcare industry as "rent seeking," and while I agree to some extent, I haven't seen much evidence that doctors or medical schools themselves are rent seeking.

[flukus]

> I have noticed that it's become popular on HN to refer to parts of the healthcare industry as "rent seeking," and while I agree to some extent, I haven't seen much evidence that doctors or medical schools themselves are rent seeking.

If we get a cold and need time off we need to visit a GP, this is rent seeking that could easily be handled by a non doctor for half the price.

As for the other points, that's just a matter of having escalation procedures. The current system has highly paid specialists doing front line technical support.

[northern_lights]

>If we get a cold and need time off we need to visit a GP, this is rent seeking that could easily be handled by a non doctor for half the price.

I'm not sure where you work, but I have never needed a doctor's note to get off work for a simple cold. That's a company policy issue, not the fault of the medical industry.

As I said, a lot of the front-line work is now handled by NPs and PAs. There are still physicians in primary care, but they spend much of their time handling the more complicated patients.

[jimmywanger]

> I'm not sure where you work, but I have never needed a doctor's note to get off work for a simple cold.

Every single prescription or referral to a specialist is a doctor's note.