“But they have long wait times in Canada!”

bittersnurr:

chronicillnessproblems:

avilociraptor:

I am from the USA.

I have one of the most top-teir private insurance plans available.

I live in a city with four, count ‘em, FOUR hospitals.

I have been a patient of my pulmonologist for 2 years.

I scheduled my next appointment today. The first available appointment?

In three and a half months.

Please stop with this “you can see a specialist in a week!” Nonsense. No you can’t. Not with elite insurance and not as an existing patient. I’ve had to make specialist appointments as far as 8 months out.

Yesterday I made an appointment with my primary for a somewhat urgent matter. His next available? In 3 weeks.

I hate going to the emergency room because the average wait time is 4-10 hours. I ended up in a coma once because of complications caused by the wait time.

I am in the most medically privileged position a chronically ill person in the US can be, and the wait times to see my doctor are still very very long.

There are people in my country who can’t even afford to go to the doctor and people justify it by saying “but in Canada, they have to ~*wait*~.

We wait here too. We wait JUST AS LONG, and sometimes even LONGER.

But not everyone gets to wait, and they die because of it.

That disgusts me.

Universal health care now, please. And yes, my full time working, disabled, chronically ill self is more than happy to fork over taxes so that nobody goes without healthcare-even the people I don’t like!

I waited 22 months to see the top geneticist on EDS here in the US. I waited at least 6 months to see one of the few neurosurgeons who is qualified to do surgery for my condition. Once I had to wait seven months not even to see a doctor, but just to get a sleep study, because the facility is that backed up (though that’s more of a supply failing to catch up with demand problem than just general Ways Things Are. They could build more rooms or facilities and make a profit with the demand… why Tucson doesn’t do this is beyond me and the bane of my existence.) Making a new patient appointment with an actual DOCTOR at a PCP office here ranges anywhere from 4-8 months. You can usually see a NP or an MA sooner, but sometimes it’s still 1-2 weeks for urgent, acute issues for existing patients and 1-3 months for new patients. 

But even as sick as my chronically ill disabled self is I wouldn’t care if all those times DOUBLED, if that meant everyone had access to healthcare and people didn’t have to ACTUALLY FUCKING DIE because they can’t get simple things treated.

I get most of my care from the big hospitals in Boston and the first time visits for specialists have AVERAGED 3-6 months. AVERAGE, as in if I get in faster I am usually shocked.

Also, this is assuming you can even get to see the doctor. Insurance sometimes mandates you see a doctor at another hospital they own before one that is in network but not owned by them. So then you have to wait to see that doctor, and usually have that doctor be like ???? I can’t help you, then have to wait for the appointment with the other one.