Wow, in New Zealand on a similar public system it's quite different. Having had chronic pain myself I've been through this. - Book a GP appointment. Generally

Wow, in New Zealand on a similar public system it's quite different. Having had chronic pain myself I've been through this. - Book a GP appointment. Generally get in the same day (costs $20-$80 depending on your GP. I have private insurance that pays up to $38) - GP orders blood tests, these are free. Clinic is on-demand, just show up. Wait times are around 30 minutes. Also prescribes ibuprofen ($5 for 100 tablets) and paracetamol (non-subsidised. $10 for 100 tablets). - GP will assess you and refer to a public or private specialist depending on your preference. In my case a public rheumatologist would have taken around a month to see, so I chose private. This cost $180 for the consultation and $120 for follow-up (insurance paid 80%). - Specialist refers more tests. For me this was an MRI. Public wait times were around 3 months because the machine needed replacement and they'd only pay for serious cases to go to the private clinic. I went private, this cost $1400 (insurance paid 80%). - Specialist orders more blood tests, still free. And they still didn't find anything conclusive. Personally I'd like GP visits to be free. They can be for people under a certain income level with the right GP. The public system also needs more funding, but in NZ we spend less per capita on socialised healthcare than the US, and the US has to add private insurance on top of that.