Political Memes

My thought exactly. Specialists are booking months out.

Compared to European countries, no. Compared to Canada, yes.

Not remotely, no. I've been on a wait-list for a few weeks for appointments that are a minimum scheduled 3 months in advance.

It is a common talking point people use when justifying their anti-universal healthcare stance.

It is often paired with refusing to acknowledge the current state of US healthcare and thinking they are paying more for quality and access.

US -> Canada here

I hear this often in Canada, but honestly the wait times are similar. In the US it would often take me ~3 months to be able to see my endo. Also, at least you can get healthcare here.

My other favorite refrain was the “You can keep your doctor!” crap that was a big selling point for that crowd.

In this system I have had 4 doctors move practices while under their care because they’re playing the capitalist system. I was not able to benefit from continuity of care in any form.

But at least I had to pay for it, not get it for “free” from a natl healthcare system. Yay.

I can see my primary within hours normally, she can’t do much except refer me to who I really need see and those appointments take weeks to make and months to get to.

No no. It cant be. Everyone in America keeps telling me the wait times in Canada are so high because of socialized medicine and you only have to wait 7 seconds to see a doctor in the glorious US of A.

When it's free or super low cost, it's paid by the government. This means the government has a vested interest in keeping you healthy so they don't have to pay more. It's a great set up.

There are basically 3 main systems for universal healthcare in the world:

Beveridge model: the government runs the hospitals and employs the doctors, and any resident may use the services. This is known as socialized healthcare, and it's what UK uses.

Bismarck model: the government mandates everyone get insurance from highly regulated competing insurance companies (some of which might be government operated and run, and some of which might be private). Everyone is put into the risk pools so that the insurers will collect enough from the entire population, including the low risk demographics. Those who cannot reasonably afford insurance are given government subsidies so that they can be covered, too. This is what Germany and Switzerland use, and is sometimes referred to as an "all payer" or "Swiss" model.

National Health Insurance Model: This is where the government gives everyone insurance and positions itself as basically the monopoly/monopsony health insurer to cover everyone and negotiate compensation rates for health care services provided by private providers. This is what Canada uses. It's also known as "single payer."

The fourth model of health care economics should be mentioned, as well. It does not promise, or even try to provide, universal health care. It's the fee for service model, where private providers set their own prices and consumers decide whether to purchase those services. Sometimes insurance can be involved, but the providers are free to negotiate their own prices with insurers, but might opt not to take insurance at all and make the patients deal with that paperwork.

Many countries use hybrid models that combine elements of the Beveridge Model and the Bismarck Model, with government providers competing with private providers, and maybe government insurers providing a backstop for what private insurers won't cover.

The U.S. doesn't follow any one model. It follows all 4 models in different settings:

• It follows the socialized model for the military and veterans affairs, as well as the Indian Health Service for Native American tribes (the government owns the hospitals and employs the staff directly).
• It follows elements of the all payer model for most employer-provided health insurance (employers of a certain size are required to provide optional health insurance) and there are the ACA exchanges, where private insurance is highly regulated and is generally required to provide coverage to anyone who a>!!<pplies, and pays providers based on negotiated prices (and since 2021 providers can't go after the patient for the difference if they don't like how much the insurer pays).
• It follows elements of the single payer model for the elderly, through universal Medicare coverage for those over 65. Medicare is the elephant in the room for negotiating prices and procedures, and providers generally don't want to refuse to take Medicare because it's just such a dominant insurer among the elderly population. For example, federal law requires any hospital with an emergency room to provide life saving services to anyone who needs it, regardless of ability to pay. The actual mechanism for making that policy is by tying Medicare eligibility to that policy. In theory hospitals could refuse to provide emergency medicine to those who can't afford it, but then they'd lose millions in Medicare funding.
• But the fundamental default in the U.S. is the fee for service model. Providers doing patient intake will ask "and how are you going to pay for this," ready to accept either direct payment or an insurance policy.

Turning back to waitlists for medical appointments, the specific type of payment arrangement in the U.S. is a big determinant for the waits. Providers who take the most popular insurance plans might get their calendars filled weeks or months in advance. Especially in lower population areas that are underserved by healthcare providers. (Side note, expect things to get much, much worse for rural healthcare with the DOGE cuts to HHS and USDA.) But in the big cities, those with higher paying insurance can generally get seen pretty quickly.

There is no universal system in the U.S., so there is no standard experience in the U.S. It's fragmented all to hell, and not only does it suck, it sucks for everyone in a different way.

Conservatives bitching about how if we had Canada's healthcare, we'd be waiting forever.

I have AMERICAN healthcare and I have to schedule a basic ass mandatory checkup 4-6 months in advance.

If it was an emergency, the next available slot is six weeks.

While it may depend on what country you want to compare it to there is nothing about privatization that inherently reduces wait times. My experience is that after leaving the US my wait times are equivalent or improved.

Private insurance just means you wait, it costs a lot more, and you're way more likely to delay treatment of your own accord because the profit motive makes the system a financial terror and a psychological torment.

if it lasts more then 14 days see a doctor

That... seems like a long time? Is that what your doctors are recommending for medical reasons or is it born out of necessity because of the general circumstances in the US? Because where I am, it's 3 days, a week at most.