[k-mcgrady]

I think this is a problem in places with free health care too (so money isn't even a reason for a lot of people). It doesn't cost a penny to see a doctor or get treatment here but I know plenty of people who avoid going to the doctor until a problem has gotten out of hand.

[thelogos]

Procrastination plays a part too. It's a big effort to, 1.Find a good doctor (not all of them are equal) 2.Call to make an appointment 3.Take time off work/classes 4.Get there and wait, wait, wait

Really, all this could be solved if more medical school were allowed to be opened and get rid of the arbitrary ceiling on the number of students med school are allowed to accept .

This is only the easy part. If you don't have insurance, it's a nightmare.

In the case of my father, he went to a general doctor. Got referred to another specialist. Who then referred him to another specialist. $600 later (a huge amount of money to most normal people) and no diagnosis, he decided to just "deal with it".

[k-mcgrady]

Good point but I have to say these reasons don't really apply to me.

1. We have a local doctors surgery which has offices for around 5 GP's and 2 nurses. You can request an appointment with a specific one but most people just take whoever is available soonest. Although I've come across a few bad doctors for the most part people seem to trust the system to weed them out.

2/3. For me this means calling a number and asking for the next available appointment. If work is a problem they have a few nights where they work late and you can request the next available appointment on a late night. No need to take time off unless it's imperative you get seen quickly.

4. This is true but I find with an appointment that hasn't been arranged last minute I get seen within 10 minutes of turning up.

NB: I'm in the UK so obviously there are differences to how the systems we're both describing work.