Is this part of the reason those online pharmacy platforms (which include a doctor who will do a very quick exam/diagnosis) took off in recent years? I mostly heard about them with regard to ADHD meds but wonder if they are also useful because they don't require you to have checkups all the time for maintenance medication.

Most of those platforms seem to require the patient to pay for a virtual visit for every refill, or require some kind of a monthly fee.

That is accurate. But those virtual visits are 50% cheaper than full telemedicine visits and 70% cheaper than in-person renews.

It should be noted their virtual visits are mostly performative. You're filling in a survey beforehand and the doctor is just there to read the survey and push a big green button.

How long do the refills last? I would think that even with the cheaper cost of medicine, and the discounted telemedicine visit, it would still be more expensive than seeing a doctor annually and getting refills for all prescriptions for the rest of the year without needing additional appointments. But perhaps I'm underestimating how cheap these platforms are (both the meds and the docs)?

They aren't that cheap. But when your doctors appointment is $120+/each, they don't need to be that cheap, just cheaper. They're like 20% cheaper all-in compared to the traditional way, and you don't need to leave the house.

Plus many of these places specialize in stigmatized products like anti-bolding, ED meds, anti-depressants, etc.

When I need a prescription refilled I request a refill from the pharmacy. If the prescription has expired the pharmacy calls or faxes my doctor's office and they send a new prescription to the pharmacy. There is no charge for this.

I've only ever had doctors that worked that way so didn't even know that there were some that did not.

I now wonder which is more common, and if there is some way to tell beforehand when choosing a new doctor which kind they are?

Agreed. I have been on the same generic blood pressure medication for ~15 years now. I was recently on a vacation in Mexico and surprised to see that you can just buy it off the shelf there. That being said my healthcare plan includes a free yearly checkup with my doctor so it's kind of nice to have a yearly baseline of bloodwork/labs and be able to see it my patient portal.

Many (most) antihypertensives need periodic monitoring for electrolytes or kidney function. In Mexico, they are not going to get sued if you go into renal failure as compared to the US. Partly done for you and partly because of the sorry tort system in the US