[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.