NoWhammies, you are so right. Most people don't understand the underlying power structure in medical practice these days. If a doc, or a group of docs, is associated with an HMO, they are not making a penny more if you come in and get lab tests and use 15 of their precious minutes having an exam. Because the insurance company pays them a set amount per patient, and they get the same, whether you show up or not.

The same is true for them prescribing meds. They make nothing off the meds they prescribe. Heck, they used to get all sorts of lovely stuff: treated to dinner at five star restaurants, trips, tchotchkes for themselves and their staff, just for listening to a presentation by a drug rep. But those things have been (rightly) severely restricted by law, now.

Docs are under pressure to see more patients, using the guidelines that are set up, for the most part, not by actual best practices, but by most efficient and least costly practices.