Third-party payment is bad for your health

I'm currently experiencing an example of one health hazard of third-party payment for medical services.

A bit over a week ago, Joy went to Urgent Care with an ear infection, and came back with the nasty cold that's making the rounds.

Now I have it.

How did she come down with the cold?  Well, a bunch of people had taken their colds to Urgent Care, the better to share them.

And why do people take their colds to the doctor?  What's the doctor supposed to do about it?  Write a prescription for chicken soup and aspirin?  Prescribe antibiotics that have no effect on the cold virus?  Prescribe antiviral drugs that might cure the cold in 7 days instead of the 1 week it'd take to go away by itself?

I have to suspect that people take colds to the doctor because it's "free" - they've paid in advance (directly or indirectly) for all the medical care they can use, and they might as well use it.

And so they take a highly contagious, uncomfortable and inconvenient but not serious, disease, about which medical science can still do basically nothing, and spread it to those who actually need (or are providing!) medical attention.

C'mon, people: if you've got a cold, stay home and rest.  Don't go anywhere you don't positively need to go.  By the way, have you noticed how much worse your driving is when you're sick?  Another good reason to stay home and avoid unnecessary travel.