> "There could be another reason for those symptoms so if we don't gate your access behind an expensive doctors visit you could treat the wrong thing and die"
Like all medical things they're (a) expensive (b) limited in supply (c) you don't have the knowledge, experience or impartiality to self-diagnose (d) you can't tell whether you need the device but buying it anyways removes limited supply from the market (e) you don't know how to calibrate it (f) you might hurt yourself.
Same reason it's insane Americans are allowed to self-refer to specialists: you don't know which specialist you need, you don't know whether you need a specialist at all, there's a limited quantity and you're likely just squandering a valuable resource.
In both cases letting unqualified end users have at it could just as easily increase the price not decrease it.
Like all medical things they're (a) expensive (b) limited in supply (c) you don't have the knowledge, experience or impartiality to self-diagnose (d) you can't tell whether you need the device but buying it anyways removes limited supply from the market (e) you don't know how to calibrate it (f) you might hurt yourself.
Same reason it's insane Americans are allowed to self-refer to specialists: you don't know which specialist you need, you don't know whether you need a specialist at all, there's a limited quantity and you're likely just squandering a valuable resource.
In both cases letting unqualified end users have at it could just as easily increase the price not decrease it.
Glasses, though, no excuse.