The NHS does that because there’s already a massive problem with too high demand and too little supply. Making health care “free” distorts incentives — so they have to come up with clever ways to implement barriers to care: waiting lists, attempts at convincing people of self care, etc. Does that NHS website provide a prescription to Tamiflu as well? Does the website know our medical history?

If people paid directly for visits, there’s a built in incentive to reserve doctor visits for when they are actually necessary, rather than the British system of “free” (provided you can jump through enough hoops to actually earn an appointment.)

Using the NHS as a model of “good” health care is laughable. What’s “good” about the NHS is that it’s “free.” It isn’t actually good when it comes to access to care or advanced treatments. Compare cancer death rates of the UK vs the US, for example. The French system where you actually have to pay some money for appointments is far better — you don’t have to wait weeks to visit a GP: I can get pediatrician appointments generally same day. That is literally impossible in the UK. I also am not getting referred to a “website” to solve my kids’ illnesses — I am not an idiot, I know how to google. I am not going to waste my time going to a doctor unless I actually feel that the doctor can provide some value.

Want to better allocate a scarce resource? Make people pay a price that reflects the available supply instead of making it “free” but with convoluted access models.