As a senior in college under my parent's military health insurance plan, I had to wait three months to get knee reconstruction surgery.
As a working adult under my company's private health insurance plan, I had a severe ear problem - the earliest I could get an appointment was a month, at which point the doctor thought it might be a tumor, but the earliest I could get an MRI was another two months later (luckily someone who had a midnight appointment canceled a couple of weeks later. I got a phone call at 10pm telling me that if I could get to the hospital by midnight they would fit me in, and they did. Thankfully the MRI was negative).
I've been to the emergency room several times for myself and others. The minimum wait was 3 hours, the maximum was closer to 8.
In several of healthcare experiences, I've been directly billed for services that should have been covered by the healthcare provider, leading to a couple of months of fighting with the hospital and the provider (complete with account turned over to collections, etc).
IOW, your experience with universal health care service seems similar to mine under privately sponsored programs, only you didn't have to worry about having to pay for the services.
As a senior in college under my parent's military health insurance plan, I had to wait three months to get knee reconstruction surgery.
As a working adult under my company's private health insurance plan, I had a severe ear problem - the earliest I could get an appointment was a month, at which point the doctor thought it might be a tumor, but the earliest I could get an MRI was another two months later (luckily someone who had a midnight appointment canceled a couple of weeks later. I got a phone call at 10pm telling me that if I could get to the hospital by midnight they would fit me in, and they did. Thankfully the MRI was negative).
I've been to the emergency room several times for myself and others. The minimum wait was 3 hours, the maximum was closer to 8.
In several of healthcare experiences, I've been directly billed for services that should have been covered by the healthcare provider, leading to a couple of months of fighting with the hospital and the provider (complete with account turned over to collections, etc).
IOW, your experience with universal health care service seems similar to mine under privately sponsored programs, only you didn't have to worry about having to pay for the services.