r/mildlyinfuriating • u/transfatpikachu • 1d ago

I just wanted a hot dog Doctor’s appointment scheduled at 9:00am, still waiting almost an hour later

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I have a lot of doctor’s appointments, and I know how busy and hard these people work. I’m not mad at them and I’d never be rude. I know it’s not on purpose. Nevertheless, it’s still a bit infuriating to make time for a scheduled appointment, arrive 15 minutes early (required), and then wait this long with not even an acknowledgment of the delay from anyone. Sigh. 9:55 now, still waiting.

Edit: I really appreciate all the comments! The doctor ended up coming in shortly after 10. This was a specialist ortho appointment for my shoulder. Still no acknowledgement of the delay, which would’ve been nice, but I’m more annoyed that my concerns were pretty much brushed off again during the whole 3ish minutes he spent with me. I know waits can get long, I wouldn’t care as much if the doctor had at least seemed somewhat concerned with my issue. Sigh… gotta love American healthcare!

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u/i_dont_wanna_sign_in 1d ago

And people say that if we had universal healthcare you'd be waiting ages for appointments... like we have been for decades...

Got tell them you've been sitting there forever. I don't wait more than 15m without saying something.

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u/StupidMastiff 1d ago

This scenario doesn't even happen in the UK, you don't get called in to see the doctor until they're ready to see you.

If they're behind schedule, it just means waiting in the waiting room a bit longer, not an empty consultation room. Also an hour seems excessive, can't remember them ever being that behind.

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u/Aetra 1d ago

Same in Aus. You wait in the waiting room and the doctor pokes their head out of their consultation room and calls your name to come in when they’re ready to see you.

I think the longest wait time I’ve had to wait was about 2 hours but the receptionist did tell me after waiting 20 mins that the doctor was treating a medical emergency and offered to reschedule my appointment. If I hadn’t needed to see the doctor that day, I could have easily rescheduled and it wouldn’t have been an issue.

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u/Thick_Cookie_7838 1d ago

You would be waiting months, not hours

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u/Specific-Yam-2166 1d ago

You wait for months as well in the US. And get to pay for it!

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u/LoquatBear 1d ago

Wdym I already wait months to schedule an hour wait in the doctor's office only for the doctor to talk to me for like 10 minutes and run more tests and if I mention what I think I'm sick with I get called anxious 

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u/Goombalive 1d ago

Really depends on so many factors. I can get an appointment to see my doctor within a week no issue 90 percent of the time.

Where stuff can get congested is for larger procedures or where you need to see a specialist.

That's been my Canadian experience anyway

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u/Murderousplantmom 1d ago

Mine too with the exception of cardiology who was saw within a couple of weeks. 

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u/alinroc 1d ago edited 1d ago

This already happens regularly in the US. I have at least one conversation each year w/ medical office staff that boils down to "we need to move this appointment you've had on the calendar for 6 months. Your options are next Thursday, or 4 months from now." New patient intake appointments routinely have to be scheduled 6+ months in advance.

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u/tetrochromac 1d ago

That's a common misconception.

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u/Pennsylvasia 1d ago

You're naive if you think it doesn't already take months upon months to get an appointment to see a specialist, if you can find one even accepting new patients. Hell, even my dentist is scheduling 7+ months out.

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u/Charming-Shake-6525 1d ago

no? universal healthcare in the us would be closer to medicaid or medicare, depending on where you live, and neither requires “months”

if it’s closer to medicare, but without the age requirement, it would actually be better than the private insurance companies. less prior authorizations, for a start.

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u/stro3ngest1 1d ago

I'm all for universal healthcare. I'm Canadian, and we have it (generally speaking, not everything but most, the rest usually is insurance from work). Months for a specialist appointment is bang on. It took 4 weeks for a suspected cancerous mole to get checked out after a referral from my doctor. Even to see my GP for a knee injury, it took 2 weeks, and I couldn't even walk.

That being said, I'd still take that over paying of course. I cannot fathom that sort of expense. But even once you get to your appt, a 15-30 min wait is pretty standard. Just saying, months isn't some crazy idea. You can ask any British, Canadian, French etc person. The months for an appointment thing is pretty accurate, unless it's a true medical emergency, but by that point you're in the ER anyways and it's a whole different ballgame.

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u/Aggressive_Lab7807 1d ago

What they don't tell you is that Americans are already waiting months to see a specialist.

I waited for 4 months to see an ENT, by the time they were ready to schedule an appointment my insurance changed and required a new referral.

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u/ferretcrossing 1d ago

Not defending the American healthcare system but 4 months to see an ENT is almost unheard of by Canadian standards lol. It’s a 1-2 year wait. After a year of my family doctor trying to refer me places the soonest he could get me in was for an appointment in mid-2027 not even joking.

Idk maybe it’s better in big cities (I live in a smaller one). But the insurance thing is crazy. What even is the point of demanding another referral other than creating a lot of hassle for you?? Terrible they’re allowed to get away with things like this :/

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u/ACleverMoose 1d ago

Months for a specialist is pretty normal in the us as well except if you will likely pay a fuck ton of money even with insurance if they don't just arbitrarily decide you don't actually need it

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u/ColonelDucroix 1d ago

I've never had to wait that long for a specialist in America.

My longest wait was a little over one month but that's because I didn't want to travel to see a neurologist. If I was interested in driving an hour I could have seen one within a few weeks.

My ENT, first appointment was around 3 weeks. My dermatologist was barely a week.

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u/ACleverMoose 1d ago

Must be nice

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u/FewerStarsLost 1d ago

Man… as an American… my longest wait for a sleep specialist that took my insurance was a year… a lot of my other specialty doctors took anywhere from a month to six months… even now my regular schedule with them is like every 2/3momths because their schedules are so packed…

My stepmom had to wait six months for a neurologist.

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u/broglespork 1d ago

Yeah I have appointments on my calendar that are scheduled 8 months out. And I live in New York. I’ve waited 3 hours for the doctor too once I’m there.

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u/alinroc 1d ago

I have a specialist appointment (test) next month that I scheduled last September when I had the follow-up visit for last year's installment of the same test.

Even my GP, I find myself booking my next annual physical on the way out the door after this year's physical.

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u/Quarantine_noob 1d ago

People wait months in the US as well for specialists. My clinic has a wait time of 2 months for new patients.

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u/stro3ngest1 1d ago

Yeah honestly that makes sense to me. It doesn't seem like the kind of problem that goes away with more funding, private healthcare or public. A doctor can really only be in one place at a time.

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u/Quarantine_noob 1d ago

Universal healthcare won’t change things but more investment into training of physicians and specialists would. Unfortunately that hasn’t really changed since the 80s or 90s for the most part

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u/Necessary_Range_3261 1d ago

And hospitals would shut their doors. We get $17 from Medicare for an MRI. From Anthem, $835. How would you propose we maintain a Million dollar machine making $17 per scan?

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u/Xmalantix 1d ago

The same way every single other country in the developed world does it?

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u/i_dont_wanna_sign_in 1d ago

Infrastructure investment is a choice

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u/f0gax 1d ago

It's already months my dude (and/or dudette).

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u/solsacrilege 1d ago

Not true. I live in a country with universal healthcare and getting an appointment is quite easy. Depend on the specialty and how full they are, it can take a few days to a few weeks. Only once did it take 3 months to see a specialist, but only for the first appointment. On the day of the appointment I wait as long as americans do.

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u/Aetra 1d ago

I’m in Aus and here it depends on why you need to see the doctor and what kind of doctor you’re seeing.

General GP checkup? I can get an appointment today. Need to see a specialist? I could be waiting months depending on how life threatening it is. Surgery? Once again, wait time depends on how life threatening it is.

Even in non life threatening situations you can get in pretty quick. My mum had heart surgery through our public system literally 2 weeks ago. She didn’t have a life threatening condition, it was more a preventative surgery so it doesn’t become life threatening down the line. GP sent the referral and a week later she’s seeing the cardiologist. Cardiologist says “We’ll schedule you for surgery within the next 2 months” and 3 weeks later she’s in hospital having the surgery.

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u/DangerousTortuga 1d ago

Well, this time you will be waiting months as depending on your condition you may not be a priority.