alt Hacker NewsFrom a US perspective, even this seems wild to me. I've always been told that at least an annual physical exam with bloodwork is highly recommended as the standard of care for adults of all ages.
Not everyone chooses to get them, of course. But ACA insurance plans here offer at least one annual physical exam free of charge (considered preventative care).
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There’s a decent amount of public health research that suggests that annual physical exams don’t actually have a large impact on health.
In the US case specifically, I always wonder how much of the benefit is just “here’s a free appointment with a doctor once a year”.
Annual exams were included in the ACA but as I understand it there is no evidence to show that they improve health outcomes. I had one once in 15 years when it was incentivised by my employer (presumably trying to show that we were low risk to reduce the rates they paid?) but otherwise my doctor has never tried to book me for one.
I think I'd prefer the UK system where if you worry something is wrong you can see a doctor free of charge.
That tends to be part of the regular health checkup.
I think that there's a working assumption amongst US folk that because the NHS is is publicly funded, it must be terrible.
Cynically - this sounds like an opportunity to sell you more medical care.
The NHS isn't perfect, but one of the things it does well because of it's structure is minimise costs holistically. It's cheaper to treat conditions early, so usually implements appropriate screening to catch things. If they don't do regular checkups like this it's because they're of minimal value.