I heard todaythat a poll came out today showing US as having longest waits for doctors of

all modern nations. I can't find this. Can someone help? I believe I heard it on Hartmann

This means that the "lines" for health care in the US are longer than Canada. Except for plastic surgery.

neurologist or rheumatologist or some other about. She has ESTABLISHED relationships with these doctors, and yet has to wait 2-3 MONTHS to be seen.

Don't tell me how bad the Canadians have it. I ain't buying.

I have been seeing a autoimmune doctor for about a year now. When I tried to go in to see him because I was having a problem they told me it was a two month wait. I can't even talk to him on the phone. I have to discus any problems with his medical assistant. I leave a voice mail and wait 24 hours to hear back from her. She doesn't talk to the doc or even look at my records because she refers to my condition as RA (rheumatoid arthritis) and I have never had it in my life. I am British and I have never been treated like shit in England.

good insurance too. Canada is almost as close as my doctors also.

4 years ago I had a total hysterectomy. Cancer cells were starting to form. I have been waiting for over a month to get re-check approval on a cat scan. I have great insurance, but I know I will be forced to wait for another couple of months to check and see if any
pre-cancer has come back....

for a appointment for my oldest girl for the dermatologist. they cant get her in until mid november

I said poll but meant study.

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=wait%20time%20doctor&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn
webresults

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=+wait+time+doctor&aq=f&oq=&aqi=
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-06-03-waittimes_N.htm

We're good here in Greensboro, NC - three big main teaching hospitals within 1.5 hours driving (UNC, Duke, Wake Forest), good mid-sized hospitals too (Moses Cone, Alamance Regional, High Point Regional) - so there's not that much of a wait really unless you're picking a wildly successful doctor. Of course emergency surgery can happen very quickly; my son needed some big-time work right after birth - for the first 24 hours of his life, 10 were spent in the operating theatre. It could have waited a couple of days but the surgeon was there, willing, ready and wanting to go. Yes he had plans to play golf but those were put on hold.

a specialist?

My son's urologist - they have several urologists under one roof and the three that see pediatric cases are familiar with his situation. If the need is there we can see whoever is available quite quickly. For more routine matters it's literally whenever there's an open slot on the guy's diary, for planned surgeries can be as short as a week, as long as 2 months.

My wife's gastric specialist/surgeon? Couple of months, he's booked solid, for a routine matter it could be 2-3 months. If you have an ongoing issue with him and have a note on file though he's good at working with her... plus I like him.

OB/GYN - 24-72 hours.

MRI's, CAT scans, same day, just walk in... good number of private MRI places around here plus the hospitals.

Edit to add:

Dentists... that's a whole other ballgame. Complete lottery there. I found a dentist for my son that could see him quickly... ended up with her. All other pediatric dentists in Greensboro were booked solid - 6 months just to wait to get a regular appointment. With adults the situation is just as bad; 4 month wait for me.

This is the true hallmark of the best health care system in the world :eyes:

One day with my psychologist I asked if she was running behind at the front desk, whilst I was asking this she stepped into the back office, saw me, heard my concern since I needed to pick up my son from school and I left the timing tight - I had arrived 1/2 hour early... but she saw me right there and then - all I needed was a medicine modification; I was out of there in a jiffy.

Urgent care however on the other hand is a complete lottery. Sometimes it's a long long wait. Sometimes you can just come in and be seen to within minutes.

In Oregon, for instance, NPs are not
restricted in their scope of practice,
and there's just a 14 days wait, according
to one of the links above.
In California and Texas, NPs are restricted
and the wait is longer
(27.2 days in LA, 24 in Dallas).

if you have an appointment. Never have to wait for more than 30 to 45 minutes. I know the DO personally. He got his DO where I am going to grad school. He thinks that is cool and always wants to talk about it. It's good to have medical in your circle of friends.

The scheduler asked "When would you like to come?"

I said "Oh, it's not a rush".

She said "How about next Tuesday?

So my not-a-rush request resulted in a wait of 4 days.

this is not surprising. How do you average infinity?

i've had phenomenal wait times, fwiw, which i have posted about. they are anecdotal. not proof.

i think it kicks ass that i got in to get an MRI the first weekday after my injury, saw my surgeon a couple of days later (first appointment ever with him) and had my surgery approved and scheduled a week later.