Maybe it's egoist to do so, but if by doing check-ups I can improve the quality of my life when I'm older then I'm all in for that.
Moreover, some preventable conditions don't show symptoms. High cholesterol, for instance, doesn't show any symptoms until one of your blood vessels is clogged, but chances are that by then is too late and you might suffer a stroke/heart attack.
I don't know how much the average treatment for those costs, but I would say way less than few tens of blood/urine tests. Or even more "stealing" a good heart because you need a transplant due to a preventable condition.
By the way now I circumvent the Swiss reluctance to prevention by going to Italy and paying the analysis out of my pocket. It's still very cheap (~100 Euros every 18 month on average).
Here is a medical editorial which makes the same point and cites the relevant research. Routine annual check ups are probably a waste of resources in most cases.
For there to be benefit to an annual checkup, it would need to fall in the window wherein symptoms have not yet occurred, but the disease is already measurable, and also one that is searched for in those checkups.
I haven't visited a general practitioner in a decade, and when I last went it was indeed because of I noticed the symptoms of of an ear-infection that I indeed suffered.
I remember first reading about that as well. That's not to say we don't have preventative care in the Netherlands though, it's just more targeted. For example, women get regular screenings for breast cancer.
I don't know too much about breast cancer, but it was just an example. There's plenty more preventative care, they're just not grouped together in a single periodic check-up (which also doesn't check for "all" ailments - I don't think we even know of all of them :) ).
Routine checkups never happen where I live. — one visits a healer when one feel sick.