I'm big on medications for brain stuff but uh yes, in the US, doctors get lots of kickbacks for prescribing drugs.

Usually this takes the form of "I'm prescribing you with <Brand> instead of generic" or "I'm prescribing you this specific drug from this class of drug"

https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov/

> doctors get lots of kickbacks for prescribing drugs.

From your own source: "In 2024: $172 or more in general payments have been received by half of physicians."

Even if all of those payments count as kickbacks, a median of $172 in a year (significantly less than 0.1% of the median physician's annual pay) is not "a lot of kickbacks".

Okay, but nobody is paying doctors to prescribe medications like sertraline and fluoxetine that have been generic for years and are cheap as dirt.