What should we go to the doctor for?

Colonoscopy? Well, not for the kiddo. I've had several, and highly recommend them.

Full-body skin exam (for early melanoma detection).

Do you still have your tonsils and appendix?

Could this be one of the reasons why medical insurance is so expensive?

Just a question.

I understand the temptation to milk the system, but I can't say it's something I would take advantage of personally - beyond routine check ups and such. If everyone did this (do they?) imagine the strain it would put on the system with unnecessary stuff. 

My dad has a similar insurance plan and scheduled a surgery for the last day of the calendar year to avoid some of the cost, but it was a surgery that needed to happen at some point. To me that's a little different than piling up on everything you can dream up - just because you can.

Oh.....now you've done it. LOL

My work pays for a complete physical every year.  At this point, it includes:

Eye exam

Hearing exam

Lung function screening

Chest x-ray

Prostate cancer screen

COMPLETE blood work to include kidney and liver function

Stress test

Colonoscopy every 3 years (have family history)

Yearly breast cancer screening would be included if I was female

Functional strength test

You've got the right attitude.....prevention saves everyone.

I can see it both ways for sure, don't get me wrong. Preventive care is a good thing. Some of the responses, IMO, fall into the "can" not "should" category, that's all. I think if it was "necessary" you would already be doing it and not have to ask. But yeah, this is a great opportunity to knock out some stuff you "should" already be doing.

And the answer would be NO!

[citation needed]

This is a great example of supply and demand in action.  I don't fault the OP at all because the cost is very low or free the rest of the year so the demand is near infinite.

The way insurance is in the US is the reason healthcare is expensive, not the people who use it.  If people give me free stuff, I take it.

Now, to the OP.  I would do basic routine checkups such as wellness physicals or stuff like the others mentioned.

There's no incentive for a person with an HSA to shop at the end of the year.  the HSA rolls from one year to the next.  Maybe you meant FSA?  Other people that might consume at the end of the year:

1. People that have met their family out of pocket max.

2. People that have met their deductible and can now buy medical services at an 80 or 90% discount

3. People who have an HMO/PPO type plan that covers "everything"

The real issue is decoupling of the people "shopping" for services from the actual price of the service.   With an HSA, I have money in my account and  I can spend it as I see fit.  It's not perfect, but at least I get to see EXACTLY how much is being spent on my care... because I'm spending it and I get to write the checks.  I can shop around a little bit... but because doctors don't publish a price list, it's time-consuming and likely not worth the effort.

"High Cost" is part of the issue.   No down-pressure on the price due to competition ENSURES that the prices stay high. 

As to the unnecessary tests:  Because I don't have to "worry" about the cost of tests, I'm not discussing the necessity of tests with my doctor.  If the doctor feels that he can order tests with impunity, the bills will be paid, why ever NOT order a test?   If the doctor knows that I'm going to walk across the street if a) he orders unnecessary tests or b) the tests are cheaper over there... then he's going to be MUCH MORE thoughtful about ordering tests.

OP is just a special case that illustrates the general:  People (and doctors) will consume unnecessary medical services as long as dollars are freely flowing from the tap, regardless of the price.

Of course, this exacerbates the problem for people who have no "tap" to draw $$ from, because there is NO WAY for them to exert enough downward pressure on the price.

You are corect sir I did misspeak, FSA. 

I agree there is an issue with the decoupling of the people shopping for services from the actual price of the service.  I will however say that I don't know if shopping for a doctor like I would shop for say a car would be in my best interest health wise.  I say that tongue in cheek.  While no down-pressure on the price due to competition ENSURES that the prices stay high is a valid point. I think it could be argued the cost of doing business is too high in the US and a big part of that is the regulatory aspect.  That cost is going to be passed onto the consumer in the form of higher insurance rates.   We may not agree on that but I see it as a problem on the inflation of costs in a lot of industries in this country. 

I don't know that I could wholeheartedly agree with your comments on unnecessary testing.  To a certain extent yes, People (and doctors) will consume unnecessary medical services as long as dollars are freely flowing from the tap, regardless of the price.  I do believe in todays world doctors will order additional testing to cover themselves.  To be fair though I should apply that more to a hospital doctor then a general practitioner.  As for the latter raising their cost I also believe there is a much higher cost for a family doctor to try and run a business today then there was 20 years ago.  The infrastructure needed to sustain such a business is again passed along to the consumer, not to mention their(doc) insurance.  Back to the point of dollars freely flowing I do believe the tap can be tightened and I will leave to you how it should be aplied.  To my knowledge certain testing still has to be approved in order for a provider to cover the cost.  Now that could well play into your case that the OP could be considered an offender on the system because now they can seek out service and not be out of pocket.  Or the practitioner could be at fault for not denying the patients request because they are seeking additional services that are now essentially free.  I look at it from the stance that in general the average person who has paid into the system is not overburdening the cost structure by seeking additional services because their deductible for the year has been used.  This mainly because what services can the average person seek out for their betterment other then preventative care?  That would seem to be an entirely seperate discussion. 

To conclude since this is what I would consider to be a somewhat broad topic if I was to look to start to bring health care cost down I would look at the bigger "offenders"(I use that term loosely) which would not be the average person to my knowledge who is fully insured.  Is this not the person the system is designed to be helping. 

 Edit - I have no idea why my computer has chosen blue and seperate fonts in my reply.  Maybe my computer disagrees with me.

I was at one time in the same boat as OP. I worked for the county government and had great health care benefits, never used them in the 2.5 years I worked there, before I left for a job with no health care benefits my wife and I had everything checked while it was still almost free. I hadn't been to a doctor at all since I was 8 and broke my leg so I didn't think it was an abuse of the system. Now you wanna talk abuse, some of my co-workers at the county were ridiculous. I think going to the doctor was a main hobby for a lot of them. 

Anyway LB gave you a good list. We did the eye doctor then just a regular physical. Only thing that was added for me was an EKG because I have always had random bouts of chest pains. Came out alright so I guess I'll live.