How "saving" $20 in healthcare cost me $80

Last month I got a bacterial skin infection, which turned out to be MRSA after culture result, and I went to the doctor and got it taken care of and was prescribed antibiotics as well as antibiotic nasal ointment.

Being cheapskate, I never bothered to fill the nasal ointment prescription (Bactroban), which was $20 co-pay, and I didn't have at the time. Flash forward to last week, and I got another outbreak of the infection. I was planning to self-medicate - I also had some antibacterial ointment which I applied, but it achieved absolutely nothing.

I couldn't take the pain anymore so today after I got up, I called the doctor. Of course, my doctor was fully booked for the rest of the week (I have easy solution to this: raise the price of healthcare!), so I had to see PA instead of doctor.

And it was basically déjà vu, exact same drill as last time. Lanced, drained, packed, gauzed ($20), and sent out the door with follow-up appointment tomorrow ($20), and a zillion more prescriptions ($40 to fill). Add in several trips to the doctor and pharmacy, add in maybe $10 in gasoline to boot.

The PA scolded me and lectured me for not doing Bactroban, told me I have to be serious about taking it, blah, blah, blah. She told me if I took it I wouldn't have had to come back to spend more money.

That is $80 which I don't have, didn't budget for, and really cannot afford. So where is it coming from? The only place I have money, my vacation fund. I will have $80 less to spend on vacation this year due to the $20 I tried to save.