When we did get sick, we didn't go to the doctor unless Mom thought we were dying. I don't remember ever going to the doctor, though did have my tonsils taken out when I was seven. My twin sisters had problems, and since Mom told the doctor I had an earache, he took mine out, too. That was it!
Here's an idea that I've been floating around for a little while.
I'm not exactly sure what health insurance was like when I was growing up (mid 1960s through mid 1970s) but it was the same with us. We went to the doctor when limbs were falling off, or death was imminent. I always wrote that off as being a side effect of money being scarce, and visits to the doctor expensive.
Flash forward to the present, and I know parents who (literally) rush their kids to the doctor (or the ER if the doctor's office is closed) over the child having "a temperature", vomiting, or even just "feeling sick".
These are highly educated people, with good jobs and good health insurance.
I ask myself why they would do that? I keep coming back to this:
Imagine car insurance being structured the same as health insurance.
Any maintenance (tune ups, oil changes, etc.) would be "covered" by your insurance, and you'd only be responsible for a minimal co-pay. I'd do an oil change and a tune up every 2,000 miles.
What if replacing your tires only cost you a $50 co-pay?
I'd replace my tires every six months.
Kids may very well be over-medicated and lacking in natural defenses against disease for the same reason that I'd have new tires every six months.
It's cheap to go to the doctor and get a pill for anything and everything that ails you, or even stuff that really isn't.