re: Average wait time to see a doctor in US as new patient is 26 days minimum

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There was a discussion on wait times in socialized medicine on here recently,

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There will be more wait times with socialized medicine, because the government saves by rationing care.

Your upscale doctors office will become walmart. Congrats.

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. Also, Illegal Immigrants use hospital emergency room

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And people with no insurance even though its virtually free to poor people.

When single payer comes on line, you'll be months to see a doctor and it will be like shopping in Walmart or the Dollar Store.

Canada sends some of their cases here to Juneau, from the adjacent areas.

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It’s going to get worse.

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Mine retired, she was horrible and will not be missed in the long term but in the numbers game it will suck for a bit as patients try to assimilate elsewhere.

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Now do female med students now versus 20 years ago. I heard a number that to get the productivity over the life of a medical career you’d need 1.5 females for every male doctor.

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This is very true.

Female MD’s work shorter hours, do part time work more often, and retire earlier than males. They are just as capable, make better grades on average - but usually begin to adjust their work schedule when kids arrive.

Of my “group of friends” in medical school - many of them were female. Over half of them retired from medicine by age 40, some of them do part time or online medical care, and only one of them is a full time surgeon. I don’t know any of my male classmates that retired or work part time and we are in our 50’s.

Not to mention, the push for medical school historically has been get the best and the hardest working people who don’t require mental health days. In house call used to be q3-4 days with no days off in training. For the last 20+ years they get a full day off after every call. We are teaching our doctors to have a better work life balance which is great for THAT doctor but not great for the community.

Add to that the push for diversity in medical school applicants - it will only get worse.

It USED to be like a navy seal team approach (not as hard but it’s a metaphor). Let’s work these guys until they almost drop and see who has the stamina to do the job well over the long term.

We don’t do that anymore and it will show.

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one month wait (in Frisco

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I had the same issue with an ent for my ear. Woke up one morning and could not hear out of my right ear. GP couldn’t see me that day so I called telescopes who put me on a steroid. Didn’t work. So I went to the er at the end of the steroid. They didn’t see anything and gave me some ent to follow up with. Took 3 weeks to get in. Now I’m trying to save my hearing with injections in my eardrum but they don’t know if it’ll work. So much for insurance moving you in faster.

"New patient vs existing patient and a lot of the problems are that a number of docs have retired or moved for a variety of reasons including age, problems with insurance carriers, and frustrations with the landscape since ObamaCare fricked with everything."

I just switched insurance companies, due to a job change, and I have been going through this for weeks now. I live in Atlanta, and here are some observations:
* about 80% of doctors available are Asian
* I wanted a male doctor who had at least 10 yrs experience. Wait time: 2 months.
* any doctor available within the next two weeks was less than 1 yr out of residency.
* all customer service and new patient support lines offered terrible and unprofessional service.

By the way, this trend has very little to do with Obama Care (not a fan). For most American's doctors, the crush of insurance company rules and regulations has chased American males away from medicine. Chinese and Indian doctors have taken over.

It’s weird watching a poster slip into dementia in real time

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Norway, the Netherlands, and Australia were the countries with the best healthcare. The United States ranked at 11, placing it at the bottom of this list. The Commonwealth Fund regularly ranks the best healthcare in the world. The United States has come in last in 2006, 2007, 2010, 2014, 2017, and 2021.

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You really believe this?
It’s socialist propaganda manipulating the numbers. Did you ever ask why cancer outcomes aren’t included in the data? Or why “access to care” for minorities is?

Or if you can’t figure that out you could simply recognize that no one you have ever known has gone to Norway, the Netherlands, or Australia to seek out a specialist.

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Average wait time to see a doctor in US as new patient is 26 days minimum

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So which is it? An “average” or a “minimum”?