Though note that the NHS to some extend does incorporate that idea, namely that doctors are paid by the state and not by individual sick patients. Hence, doctors don’t have an incentive to ‘keep their patients sick, but alive’, which could be argued to be the case in systems such as Germany or the US, where doctors are paid for each individual visit by each individual patient.

This assumes doctors are capitalists; some are sure, but most of those people went into banking...

You can't seriously think that US doctors want to keep their patients sick.

> "Making every contact count", a UK initiative to make sure that doctors[1] use every opportunity to promote smoking cessation, alcohol use reduction, weight loss, and other lifestyle adjustments.

Wow, that's truly the nanny state at work. I like tobacco, I enjoy smoking and I'm working on my weight. I hate it when I go to a physician's office and get offered the standard blurb about how smoking tobacco is apparently only slightly less lethal than mainlining cyanide with an arsenic chaser.

Frankly, that's a major reason why I don't bother going to see one. My body's working well enough, and while it'd be nice to know that my organs are in good condition, I don't want to deal with someone who doesn't respect me.

> when I go to a physician's office

Why the fuck are you going to a doctor if you don't want advice that will treat your illness?

And this is the point: a lot of health problems are preventable, and it is your doctor's job to tell you how to avoid those health problems.

If I need that kind of advice I'll just give a phone call to my parents, thank you. It's also free.

Can your parents give you free smoking cessation tools such as nicotine replacements? Can they refer you to weight loss groups, and give you 3 free months?

Why would you need a free smoking cessation tool when your cigarettes cost you several euros or pounds per day? Any smoking cessation tool is already less expensive than your vice.

But then of course my comment was at least in part sarcastic. An advice can always be a good thing; on the other hand, my first reaction at the idea is to think that I'd like my doctor to listen to whatever health issue I have and solve it, rather than giving me paternalistic advice. As if we didn't have enough already.

Not everyone has such handy and knowledgeable parents.

Edit. Grammar.