this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2025
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I can see my primary within hours normally, she can’t do much except refer me to who I really need see and those appointments take weeks to make and months to get to.
I have a chronic pain issue and my primary referred me to a specialist that took sox months to see. They referred me to a different specialist with a six month wait-list. They then referred me to a more specific sub-specialist for another three month wait. I live in a reasonably well-off and well populated area, so I'm not out in flyover country or anything. I've heard the same from many people. Short wait-lists in America is a myth.
100%. Took me 3 months to get an ENT appointment. They've still done fuck all about the actual issue almost a year and a half later. The profit incentive is for return customers, not to actually fucking cure anything here.
My first six month wait was for an ENT. I'm actually past ten years, well over a dozen referrals, and three useless surgeries, but that's another story.
Pro-tip, if they want you to see a neurologist, make sure it's a headache specialist. I waited 6 months to see a neurologist recommended by an ENT, only to have her immediately refer me to a headache specialist because, duh, nasal sinuses are in the head. What really kind of pisses me off is that I asked the ENT if this specific Neurologist he recommended was good with my kind of issue, and he assured me they were. Total bullshit.
We desperately need more doctors, and those doctors need to cost less.
Free college would make a big difference for that.
Sort of. The US medical system has multiple choke points, but an undergraduate degree is the least limiting. The bigger barriers are the limited number of med school spots and the even smaller number of residency spots. Med school is a whole discussion, I don't even think you should need an undergraduate degree, but whatever. The final filter is residency spots, which are functionally set by the government. They pay hospitals to take residents, and will only pay for a certain number each year. We gotta increase that number if we want to stop throwing away educated doctors before they can even get to helping people.
I'd say you're right honestly. Especially since the majority of courses are really pointless for doctors. Organic chemistry only serves to weed out those who can't or won't study. You'll use very little of it as a practicing doctor (Biology majors who take things such as immunology, genetics, etc def get more value than other majors)
Med school acceptance is definitely an issue like you said also. Its only getting worse, with the average GPA/MCAT/extracurriculars being waaaay higher than even in the 90s.
Residency, thankfully, is something theyre trying to address by increasing the slots. Of course they also have fucked anyone who needs FinAid for premed/med school so....