> You do loose the first day's pay

Many countries have this system and the usual effect is that the duration people are sick for is magically never less than 2 days. It's dumb policy.

This is not accurate. In Germany, you usually only have to get a doctor's note at 2 or 3 days, if youre only sick for a day or two you don't need one.

And there's an unlimited number of sick days. As long as you have a doctor's note, you still get paid, up to some ridiculous limit at which you might have to get government support instead.