[jack_tripper]

Ok but urgency is a different kettle of fish. Life threatening cases get urgency everywhere and immediate care everywhere.

Let's focus on the other part you said, "waiting 1 year" if it's not urgent. 1 year sucks no matter how you spin it around.

[withinboredom]

I wish I could have waited one year. 0/10, would not recommend that proceedure. FWIW, it's a very common, usually also scheduled long in advance (even in the US). Pretty much every man has to get one over 40; so it makes sense the wait list is long unless you've got something else going on.

[nobody9999]

>Ok but urgency is a different kettle of fish. Life threatening cases get urgency everywhere and immediate care everywhere.

Except it doesn't. At least not in the United States. I have Peripheral Artery Disease.

I had two completely occluded arteries in my left leg and a third that was mostly occluded and had an aneurysm to boot.

One day, that third artery collapsed and I was left with zero blood flow to my left foot.

The doctor had me go to the Emergency Room to get testing and imaging to have surgery the following week.

He did not simply schedule surgery, as that would have required pre-approval from my insurance company and, in fact, the insurance company denied the claim and did not approve the procedure (which saved my foot) until six weeks later -- at which time I'd have had to have my foot amputated without the angioplasty and arterial bypass.

In fact, after surgery the insurance company continued to deny my claims and refused to authorize pain meds (they sliced my left leg open from my hip to my ankle and rooted around to use an existing vein to bypass the blockage on one of my arteries) for those same six weeks.

Oh yeah, US healthcare is so much better. /rolls eyes. My insurer would have forced me to wait until I required amputation if I hadn't just gone ahead on an emergency basis as suggested (because it's not unusual for that to happen) by the surgeon.

And in case you were wondering, yes I have private insurance and pay nearly $1200/month just for me. In fact, my deductible for next year just went up 20% and my annual out of pocket doubled, yet I'm still paying essentially the same premium.

No. The US healthcare system is completely fucked and I hope you don't die or lose important body parts learning that.