I feel like it's partly made to avoid people abusing the system.
In France for example a lot of people go to the doctor for the most ridiculous things because 1: it's free (at least at the individual level) and 2: it's an easy way to get a sick leave (sick leaves have been exploding in the last few years). Same with emergency rooms, people don't know what an emergency is, they just use them as walk in clinic.
Every time someone goes to the doc for a small headache or a common cold, just for the doc to tell them "well, just wait it'll go away, here have some aspirin", it cost something like $30-100 to the whole system.
In France for example a lot of people go to the doctor for the most ridiculous things because 1: it's free (at least at the individual level) and 2: it's an easy way to get a sick leave (sick leaves have been exploding in the last few years). Same with emergency rooms, people don't know what an emergency is, they just use them as walk in clinic.
Every time someone goes to the doc for a small headache or a common cold, just for the doc to tell them "well, just wait it'll go away, here have some aspirin", it cost something like $30-100 to the whole system.