You can typically get an appointment with your GP within a day or two; their role is basically triage for the rest of the health system. Access to specialists i

You can typically get an appointment with your GP within a day or two; their role is basically triage for the rest of the health system. Access to specialists is tiered; a referral from a GP gets you access to earlier appointments, without a referral you could wait for months. So people with chronic conditions who know that they need to set up appointments on a regular basis set up those appointments months ahead of time (instead of setting a personal reminder on their phones then trying to get an appointment in the next day or two), while slots are kept open for people who get referrals for more acute cases. An appointment for a specialist after securing a referral can be anywhere from same-day to a couple weeks or so. Some people pay for private insurance because the thought of waiting a couple weeks to see a specialist is unthinkable for them. I have a parent who needed cancer treatment in the US (in a major urban center), even with insurance, trying to get an appointment with oncologists, radiologists, etc. could take more than a month, trying to get surgery scheduled was a multi-month affair. Especially for cancer treatment, where time is of the essence (who knows when the tumor will continue to metastisize?), the process was frustratingly slow. The Israeli process is far faster. As far as quality... look, most doctors in the system aren't going to be Dr. Gregory House. But no complaints. By and large, the ones I have encountered will listen, are attentive, are not immediately dismissive of attempts to self-diagnose, and do a good job. Israeli law also recognizes the right to a second opinion and doctors encourage patients to secure one if they so desire.