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Comment by ryandrake | Hacker News Reader

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.

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> 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.

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".

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