4 ms·

It’s not as bad as Europe but in the USA it’s now 3-6 months to see a specialist with premium insurance

ensignavenger 2y ago
Depends a lot on where you are in the USA, what specialty you need, and how far you are willing to travel. There are definitely some areas without enough providers. We need to reform the way we train doctors.
ActionHank 2y ago
In Canada the conservatives have been doing everything they can to gut the health care. One of their primary arguements is that it is so much quicker and easier to see a doctor in the US. What has changed in the last few years(since they formulated their talking points) to add this delay?
- nothercastle 2y ago
  A number of compounding factors. Work conditions for providers aren’t great. Cost cutting has driven more work to providers without increasing pay. Hospitals are constantly cutting provider costs and increasing overhead burden. So doctors that used to get 10 min per patient to write notes now get 5 and a couple additional patients. Nursing staff available is low and so doctors have to do more. All this adds up to more suck and doctors quitting earlier. Higher health care needs due to aging population, that’s kind of a given. Also general lack of providers coming down the pipeline. Needs are up but the number of doctors are roughly flat. It’s also not the ticket to a good life it used to be. You would make way more money as a tech bro than as a doctor and have better qol.
eitally 2y ago
This wildly varies based on 1) needs, 2) supply/demand in your locale, 3) existing patient relationship. I live in the Bay Area and in the past month - between myself, wife and three kids -- we've seen an oral surgeon, general practice dentist, orthodontist, pediatric cardiologist, pediatric orthopedist, OB/Gyn (for outpatient surgical procedure), pediatric dermatologist and a sports medicine orthopedist. The only one that had a lead time of more than a week was the dermatologist, and that was because it was a low priority assessment appointment, not something that required immediate attention. Overall, lead times are pretty short for patients that need to be seem for emergent reasons, and I've almost never had issues with prescheduled appointments being moved after the fact. We have pretty standard employer-sponsored HDHP PPO insurance, and my experience has held true across three states over the past 20 years. Unless something fundamentally changes about healthcare in the US, though, I believe high schools or colleges should teach "patient advocacy" for many of the same reasons as they should teach "financial literacy" as required short courses. I'm convinced, benefiting from having close family members employed as health care providers and witnessing the experiences of many friends & families who don't have this benefit of knowledge & experience, that many people receive supbar care primarily because they don't know how to seek & request what they need, to converse with providers using expected jargon, and to advocate for themselves to their insurers (and providers).

Depends a lot on where you are in the USA, what specialty you need, and how far you are willing to travel. There are definitely some areas without enough providers. We need to reform the way we train doctors.

ActionHank 2y ago

In Canada the conservatives have been doing everything they can to gut the health care. One of their primary arguements is that it is so much quicker and easier to see a doctor in the US. What has changed in the last few years(since they formulated their talking points) to add this delay?

nothercastle 2y ago
A number of compounding factors. Work conditions for providers aren’t great. Cost cutting has driven more work to providers without increasing pay. Hospitals are constantly cutting provider costs and increasing overhead burden. So doctors that used to get 10 min per patient to write notes now get 5 and a couple additional patients. Nursing staff available is low and so doctors have to do more. All this adds up to more suck and doctors quitting earlier. Higher health care needs due to aging population, that’s kind of a given. Also general lack of providers coming down the pipeline. Needs are up but the number of doctors are roughly flat. It’s also not the ticket to a good life it used to be. You would make way more money as a tech bro than as a doctor and have better qol.

eitally 2y ago

This wildly varies based on 1) needs, 2) supply/demand in your locale, 3) existing patient relationship. I live in the Bay Area and in the past month - between myself, wife and three kids -- we've seen an oral surgeon, general practice dentist, orthodontist, pediatric cardiologist, pediatric orthopedist, OB/Gyn (for outpatient surgical procedure), pediatric dermatologist and a sports medicine orthopedist. The only one that had a lead time of more than a week was the dermatologist, and that was because it was a low priority assessment appointment, not something that required immediate attention. Overall, lead times are pretty short for patients that need to be seem for emergent reasons, and I've almost never had issues with prescheduled appointments being moved after the fact. We have pretty standard employer-sponsored HDHP PPO insurance, and my experience has held true across three states over the past 20 years. Unless something fundamentally changes about healthcare in the US, though, I believe high schools or colleges should teach "patient advocacy" for many of the same reasons as they should teach "financial literacy" as required short courses. I'm convinced, benefiting from having close family members employed as health care providers and witnessing the experiences of many friends & families who don't have this benefit of knowledge & experience, that many people receive supbar care primarily because they don't know how to seek & request what they need, to converse with providers using expected jargon, and to advocate for themselves to their insurers (and providers).