Before I qualified for Medicare I went to one doctor who would only refill blood pressure prescriptions for three months at a time. He would not refill after that unless I went to see him, and each time I went to see him he would just check my blood pressure and charge me $50. One time I had to borrow the $50 from a friend of mine, whose church funded it. I hated being charged for an office visit when I could have checked my BP free at the pharmacy. But, to do him justice, I think that was how he made his living, he did serve a lot of low-income people like me, so he had to have an income from somewhere. Another doctor didn't want to refill prescriptions after a certain time without doing blood work, and that cost over $100, plus the price of the office visit just to see him.
I'd never thought I'd look forward to turning 65, but doing so meant I could start seeing a doctor regularly and not having to pay out of pocket for it.