ER doctors say this season is the worst they’ve ever seen, and are now calling for real action to fix the crisis plaguing Canada’s healthcare system.
ER doctors say this season is the worst they’ve ever seen, and are now calling for real action to fix the crisis plaguing Canada’s healthcare system.
US ER wait times are already 10+ hours in many places, and if you’re not turfed immediately you can still wait hours after being admitted. I’ve never understood the wait time argument as being to the advantage of the US system.
Most arguments about wait time are conflating two issues: how long from when you check in to when you see the doctor, and how long between when you try to make an appointment and the date of that appointment.
The US system is not terrible for wait times on appointments, and depending on your type of insurance it’s not terrible to see a specialist. But there are some niche practices that are horrible wait times, such as endocrinologists.
The US system “solves” the office wait time issue by dinging doctors for spending more than 7 minutes per patient.
The US system is terrible for wait times based on appointments as well as ER visits in my experience. In cities like Albuquerque, you can wait months to see a specialist. Even in major cities, there can be enormous wait times and many GPs simply aren’t accepting new patients.
I have a very high end insurance plan, and I do not wait. My experience is very different from many of those in the Bay Area, and is very, very different from New Mexico and most of the US southeast.