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Comment by dietr1ch | Hacker News Reader

> PCPs don't really seem to do anything but refer you to a specialist and any visit to a specialist

(Yet another, I live in the US, therefore everyone else does moment)

This is one of the things that surprised me the most in the US. Doctors seem afraid to draw any reasonable conclusion and are more like salesmen. I'm sure the fact that you can sue for pretty much everything plays a role in them not being more confident.

I hope that testing gets cheaper and more data gets public so we can eventually have AI doing the medical scoring and with it routing/prioritizing patients.

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I live in the US and have run into both kinds of doctor. If you end up with one that does nothing and only refers you to specialists, it's worth trying other doctors. There are definitely nerdy doctors that know a lot more and are more willing to get their hands dirty.

Ultimately, even the nerd doctors will send you to a specialist if you need it.

I like my current doctor a lot. He runs his own independent practice and is just generally really cool.

> it's worth trying other doctors

In much of the US finding a PCP who is accepting new patients is hard. And the ones that are accepting new patients are unlikely to be one of the good noes.

Plus, new patient appointments are a 6-9 month wait where I am (suburban California) so it could take over 2 years to try 3 Primary care doctors.

We just got a doctor appointment now after scheduling in September. Went into the office and the receptionist explained “oh, sorry, Doctor X is busy and can’t make his appointment. Next available is in July.”

It’s always funny when people say “universal healthcare will have long wait times for doctors like in Europe!!” This is is currently happening in the USA.

Are there any walk-in doctor surgeries in the US? Or tele health? What do you do if you need a doctor today?

"Doctor's surgery" is what we'd call the doctor's office in the US, right?

In terms of walk-in, there's "urgent care" and similar things. And of course the emergency room if the need is severe. Telehealth was vastly expanded during the pandemic and has stuck around to a significant degree.

In addition to urgent care clinics, every doctor I've had holds a few appointment slots open for same-day or next-day visits. I just have to call them when they open.

Just checking my doctor's group, they have multiple appointments available for new or existing patients in all 7 of their locations around Austin as early as Tuesday - and that's probably only because Monday is a holiday. The only caveat is that you have to accept whichever doctor is available, rather than selecting you PCP.

I know it's a big country with a lot of variability of experience, but this has been the case everywhere I've lived.

Yea, we basically use urgent care for everything, since it seems very few in-network doctors want any more patients, and the ones who do have no availability for months. So we're in this weird position where we have no "primary care doctor".

> universal healthcare will have long wait times for doctors like in Europe!!

I don't know about that. The missus had a problem, had to see a specialist, they first said next slot is in 1.5 months, then she read her blood test over the phone and they scheduled her in like 3-4 days. TBH that wasn't funny at all, the 1.5 months appointment would have looked ... healthier.

Eastern Europe where the universal health care isn't considered great.

[Posting as throwaway because the missus can be identified by my HN nick]

Same experience with me in the Bay Area. Wait times where 2-3 months for anything reasonably close (within 45 minutes driving). Ended up paying for one medical.

Growing up in the sticks, I had a primary care doc who, in retrospect, tried to treat things he should have referred out to specialists. The result was at least one early death in my family, another close call, and avoidable permanent disability.

Is it really common to sue for testing or lab work? i mean, theranos being an obvious exception here.

It's not common to sue for anything really. Most people don't ever sue anyway, but a small amount of people sue a lot, backed up by the armies of attorneys that advertise on daytime tv and bill boards. My wife works in liability defense and it is common that most plaintiffs have been involved in other lawsuits. Car wrecks, slip and fall, wrongful terminations, plaintiffs will often have 2 or 3 ongoing cases. They are all generally bullshit but will settle out for between 20-40k after a year or two of depositions and back and forth.

One interesting thing though is that pain and suffering is typically calculated at 2x medical costs. So those crazy high bills work in your favor when you are suing someone.

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