| There's also reginal variability in this. My experience with a dermatologist (in the US) ended up being the same as you anticipated it being. Trying to book a new patient appointment myself I was getting quoted availability 2-3 months out. I was able to get that sped up a bit by having my primary doctor refer me (which my insurance didn't require) and set up the appointment on my behalf. But even then, it ended up being almost 6 weeks out. I've also had to book GI appointments in a few different locations, and have had some get me in within a week and others that had a multi-month wait. And some insurance plans in the use are HMO plans[1], which generally have the requirement of going through your primary care doctor for everything and requiring a referral from them to see other physicians. The biggest gripe I have about the US healthcare system is how impacted it is by employer decisions. Having decent coverage today doesn't mean the coverage will stay decent, even if you stay with the same employer. I've had awesome insurance unexpected swapped out for crap insurance due to an acquisition, had good plans that I took into account when determining whether to take a job disappear the year after during open enrollment season, had the "same" plan change year to year in subtle but impactful ways (like keeping per-person deductibles the same, but adding a condition to meet a minimum family-level deductible in addition to any individual before you actually hit the threshold). [1] https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/hmo.asp |
And an industry - not a service - aiming to find and charge the highest prices in a market where the buyer cannot refuse the service.