That's not how it works Bob. You're spreading misinformation.
Thanks for that table, actually. Quite informative and does clear up many misconceptions I had.
The
**targeted timePuts it alllll in a nutshell. Zero correlation to reality, but such a fine goal!
A table showing targeted wait times doesn't correlate with actual wait times? That's an impossibility and you are hysterical and so is V8 for meriting that post.
The reality I was portraying is that if you walk into the doctor bleeding from your rectum with stage III colorectal cancer, they wont send you home for 3 months to wait for an appointment.
If you read the table,
The reality is that after your triage,
you might have to wait for 84 days!Anecdotally,
my father is a cancer survivor - direct cost to him $0
my mother is a cancer survivor - direct cost to her $0
...because of this, I have a PSA (blood test) every two years and a colonoscopy every 5 years (so I don't end up in emergency with blood pouring from my rectum in stage III colorectal cancer) - direct cost to me $0
This doesn't preclude me from going to my family doctor or any of the numerous walk-in clinics in my area any time I am not well. If I am really not well, I can be taken to the emergency department of any local hospital by ambulance and if required, I can be flown by helicopter to another hospital that is equipped to treat my ailment.
When my daughter was born (direct cost to us $0), we got to choose which hospital we wanted use or we could opt for home birth if we wished. During the pregnancy, my wife and I attended a free pre-natal clinic for weekly lessons on what to expect and things we could and should do before/during and after the birth of our daughter. The cost of those lessons was $0 but they proved to be invaluable to us as noob parents.
Also anecdotally,
I got really sick suddenly while visiting the north-eastern USA a few years back... okay it was 2009. (Worst part was I had a hotel room with a wide-screen TV and the
Steelers were playing the Cardinals in the Superbowl and I missed it!). Drove myself to the nearest hospital and went to the emergency room. They checked me for influenza in the waiting room and once they found it wasn't that, they put me in a private room with a TV. Then an administrator came in to find out how I was going to pay for any treatment I might receive (I saw him three separate times while I was there for about 2 hours). I even called my medical insurance company on my cellphone to have them speak to him because he wanted my credit card and I wasn't about to give it to him because my insurance company had direct billing. After the phone call, he was satisfied they would be getting paid and a doctor came in and recommended blood samples to check for a blood-borne bacteria since I had a high fever but no influenza. After that, a technician came in to take the blood and a nurse came in to give me an NSAID. I got to see the after-game highlights on the TV while I was there. The doctor came back in and told me the blood tests were negative and his diagnosis was food poisoning, gave me a prescription for something and said goodbye. Overall it was a great experience at the hospital; fairly fast and thorough, nice touch with the private room and the TV was just over-the-top. Total cost $1482 (I'm looking at the bill right now) which was covered by CAA travel insurer after 6 months of phone calls/letters/faxes. The insurer was telling me to tell the hospital to contact them directly but the hospital kept phoning and sending the letters to me anyway. That part sucked ass. I ended up acting as a go-between since I didn't want the hospital getting ripped off and I had used my insurance
for the first time ever in good faith. The matter was eventually settled.
So, while the one time I needed a doctor in the USA, the service was excellent, the payment nightmare erased all those good feelings and more. It might even have shortened my life with the resulting stress.
YMMV
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