Wait times in my region are 12-24 months. My "annual" appointments with generalists occur roughly 18 months apart, and usually involve being seen by a PA or NP.
I live in Québec, Canada and the longest I had to wait was 3 months for a gallbladder ablation. And my wife, who is on her fourtht year of ribociclib to prevent her spinal metastasis (breast cancer) from coming back, have timely periodical CT-PET and IRM scans.
MAID is popular not because of lack of care but because Québécois values their autonomy and quality of life above being simply alive for the longest time possible.
In the US nobody waits three months for a simple gall bladder ablation. What's crazy is you think that's normal. She has 'timely' scans because they are made months in advance.
My dermatologist books nine months in advance. My wife’s neurologist books six months out. Long waits are absolutely a thing in the US. A surgery she needed took 18 months to go through.
In the US around 26 million people have no form of health insurance. These same people are unlikely to be able to afford a 'simple' gall bladder ablation out of pocket. Which implies an effectively infinite wait time. What's crazy is that some people think this is normal.
But it was truly not urgent, I would have been ok with waiting 6 months!
And the scans are not scheduled months in advance. We complained that we were only informed of the date and time of the next scan a few days before it... The explanation was that they have a must not be done before and a must be done after dates but the actual scheduling is done just in time so urgent case are prioritized before routine care.
