https://tobaccotactics.org/article/consumer-choice-center/
Looks like Consumer Choice Centre is a right wing anti regulation lobby group. Surprising that they would make an infographic that makes the US healthcare system look so terrible if their goal was to advocate for deregulation.
I imagine the US times are exclusive of the "maybe it will heal on its own and I won't need to bankrupt myself" pre-doctor waiting period. I know I needed ankle surgery for several years before I gave up and went to the surgeon. I work with a guy who has needed knee replacement for as long as I have known him (and the injuries were not fresh when I met him).
The above waiting periods are not exclusive to non-emergency situations either. I know someone who almost died trying to tough out appendicitis (the appendectomy was more expensive and complicated than it would have been if he had gone immediately as a result).
I really don't think the above anecdotal evidence are particularly rare or unique either.
IDK what the wait time is about on the green bar. I typically have no trouble getting a same-day general practice doctor appointment with a phone call in the morning, in the USA. Has been this way for all my life and I was born last century.
Specialist appointments are where I have encountered delays of weeks.
A regular Dr. appointments in my area are out 2 months.
Specialist are at 6 months. Some of them are out as long as 18 months .
My wife is going in for non-emergency surgery today, it's taken 6 months.
It's gotten bad enough that you have to go the ER or Urgent care for stuff a GP traditionally to handles.
Look up Providence Group, they purchase the local hospital system and have since fucked it up. Providers are leaving in droves because of their naked corruption.
You're the outlier of outliers, then. General practice is booked weeks to months in advance for me.
and its not like you just go to non emergency surgery. there is a generally a process of identifying the need with the primary care that requires multiple visits so if the primary care takes a long time it effectively makes the non emergency surgery take longer to actually get done. This is even the case in emergency cases where it takes the primary to identify you have something very very wrong with you.
Wait is it normal to need an appointment for a GP visit?
It's normal in Ireland. I can always get one same day or next day.
I feel like this infographic is full of shite on the GP part tbh.
I mean, in Australia it is, although you can usually get one the same day/next day. Not sure where the 4 days comes from. The 21 days from the US is just madness tho, if accurate. By the time you see the doctor whatever you had had either passed or has killed you.
I didn't think these are "sick visits". I'm in the US and can see my GP within a day if I'm sick, but scheduling a physical will be much further out.
What would you consider to be a "physical"?
The comparison about countries is hard to understand because I'm not sure of what constitutes as one or another.
Where I live I can walk in on a public hospital and see a doctor within two hours if I don't have any risk that would give me priority. Then if the doctor asks for an exam or x-ray or something, it might be done shortly after on the same hospital if there's some time concern, or they may just request you to do the exam and then you can go after it yourself. In this case getting it for free can take quite some time, so there's several private clinics that people go to only for exams - they can sometimes do it within one or two days, other times it takes longer.
However if you need surgery or something more advanced, you may end up dying on a waiting list if the doctors don't properly detect how much of a risk you're at. I don't have any personal experience with this part of the Healthcare system though so I'm only saying this based on stories I've heard and from some news coverage I've seen in the past.
Meaning non-threatening regular check-ups. Check blood pressure, sugar levels, etc. If I call up saying I have a fever they would typically schedule something that afternoon (if it's morning) or the next day or two depending on severity - not make me wait 21 days.
I can't get a sick visit in a day. within a few days maybe. they tell me to go to urgent care if its that bad which is possible same day but not your primary care who knows you medical history.
YMMV. Only speaking from my experience. Even a "few days" is better than the 21 shown in the graph.
well and actually my wife has a lot of issues and so it is not a physical but is not a virus. long term things that have to be worked out and she is lucky to get those within a month. Actually even emergency room they say to follow up with primary care and that can be like a month. and it was the effing emergency room. oh and specialiasts are pants with any follow up here, especially with complications.
Interesting, where are you? It's more or less the opposite here (Austria). Hospitals will let you wait for ages (like 2 hours, possibly even more if it's particularly busy) if you walk in with something that doesn't require immediate treatment and/or their more advanced machines, and they'll tell you you shouldn't waste emergency resources for that stuff. I'm talking about COVID or the flu or things like that as a healthy young adult. But GPs will always take walk-ins for immediate issues. Mine has a wait time of 10-30 mins for walk-ins.
usa. You wait hours here even if it is pretty immediate. I have seen a guy bleeding through hand towels from chainsaw accidents waiting hours. What im talking about though is a legitimate emergency sends you (or in this case my wife) the the er. When you are stable enough to leave they direct you to follow up with your primary and that is where it still take a month to get that follow up. Even though you were in the ER and the ER does not really fix you up completely they just basically get to where your not in danger of dying in the near term.
Here in Scotland, yes. I usually opt for a phone appointment because I'm lazy. It's never urgent but I can still get one within a couple of days. And that's with the surgery having recently closed its list to new patients because of a population surge in the town (new housing).
I wonder what the numbers would look like if you put in "can't afford it" as 1 year.
If they included that sort of bias in the data, America would be number one.
I wonder what it would look like if private health care were included for the all countries.
What fucking Wonder World are these times from? Are like rich people's home concierge services bringing the numbers down? I don't think I've seen a doctor in under an hour in like 10 years.
The numbers on the chart represent days.
Oh God that's even more wrong then. 6 months is a good time I find.
This post contains misinformation, but I'm conflicted about removing it. Doing so would also eliminate the valuable conversation that follows. Keeping it up allows for critical discourse and sharing of more reputable sources on the subject. The community's commentary effectively highlights how the infographic greatly misrepresents global healthcare waits, and I fully support the community members' contributions to this discussion.
Liea. Nobody in the usa has a general practitioner anymore. You got urgent care or emergency room, pick one.
*please arrive 15 minutes early
This is nonsense, you can get into an urgent care the same day pretty much anywhere for GP care.
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