Annoying, yes, but it's also necessary for employers (and yourself) to be able to verify you're sick and didn't just skip work because you didn't feel like it and thus broke your working contract. It's just a matter of law and evidence. But I agree that the fee is too high. We had to pay $10 until they removed that fee a few years ago because it only hurt the poor and the chronically ill and not the fakers who had no problem paying for a free day/week.