Having grown up in India, even after I've spent almost my entire adult life in the US, I'm still reluctant to go the doctor here. In India, the process is very

Having grown up in India, even after I've spent almost my entire adult life in the US, I'm still reluctant to go the doctor here. In India, the process is very simple: you call the doctor in the morning, you get an appointment for the afternoon, you show up, get looked at, pay the cost of the visit (usually less than $10-15), and you're done. It's basically like any other business transaction. So even if I had a minor seeming infection, going to the doctor was the right and efficient move. Here, I call the doctor's office, and might not get an appointment for another two months, if I'm lucky. At that point there is some opaque process involving my insurance, and it just seems like a much weightier event than a simple visit should be. Of course, I'm guessing that an infection would speed up the process, but the psychological barrier is already up in my mind, and I'd rather just power through on my own. But there seems to be some hope. Recently, my wife was able to go to an urgent care clinic to treat an infection, and the process was much more like what happens in India. Still, there is some intervention of insurance, though a bit more transparently so.