Doctors think lots of patients ask for medicine they don't need. This study says that's not true

We know that wasteful spending is a huge problem in health care. Every year, the United States spends $765 billion annually (about one third of our overall health care dollars) on things that do not make Americans any healthier. This is both a huge problem, and opportunity. If we could make a dent in unnecessary wasteful spending, cut it in half or even a quarter, it would be a huge reduction in health care costs. And that could happen without harming Americans: we'd be eliminating the care that, by definition, isn't needed.