Ask Lemmy

Brazil, urban area, with a health plan (private healthcare)

I go to the doctor, grab a little paper with a number on it, wait for the number to be displayed on the monitor, go to the reception desk, give them my health plan card and my ID, they give those back to me, I sit back down and wait for the same number to be displayed on a different monitor. Once it's displayed, I go to the room number shown on the monitor and from there, I discuss what problem I have with an adequate specialist.

For an unplanned visit, the wait time is usually 5–30 minutes, depending on the hour and season (there are a lot of tourists during summer, meaning longer wait times and more people at the hospital).

I don't know about pricing (my parents pay for it), but it's probably not too expensive since we've never had financial problems due to health issues (as far as I'm aware).

I've never not went to the doctor for financial reasons, only for health concerns (worrying about getting sick with something else, specially if the waiting room is full or almost full). Sometimes prescribed medicine can be pretty expensive.

Germany:
I call the office
I schedule a time (and maybe a date if it's not urgent)
I go there
I get my treatment (advice), a prescription and if needed when to reschedule
I go to the apothecary and redeem my medication (usually without extra charges. But some arent subsidized 100% and you need to pay the remaining)
I get better again
I start working

UK here. This is all "free" (i.e. paid for by a significant portion of every paycheck I ever earn via tax).

I phone my GP. They say you have I call at 0830 to get an appointment. Call back tomorrow. I ask for an advance appointment and they say they have nothing for 6+ weeks. So I call back the next day and the line is constantly busy. I get through at 0837 after mashing redial constantly. I'm told the appointments are all gone and I should call back tomorrow again. They suggest "if it's urgent then go to the A&E department"....which is clearly inappropriate for my problem. So I call back the next day. The next day I happen to get through at 0833 and they take my details. I'm told the doctor will call me back at some point later that day. Spend the day watching the phone, but can't answer it because I'm work. Duck out of something really important at work to take the call, I'm told to come to the GP later in the day. Later in the day I have work stuff I can't just leave immediately, so I ask for an appointment the next day. Get told to phone back at 0830 the next day to make an appointment.

I've figured out a way to short circuit the system. There's a national urgent medical line (111) and I have to answer the operator's questions for 20 min (am I bleeding profusely? Am I unable to breathe? Am I going to die imminently?). Finally, they're able to allocate an appointment for my own GP at a sensible time the next day.....apparently thesr guys have access to appointments with my GP which the fucking GP won't give me. Great! I go to the GP to be seen by a FY2 doctor (i.e. 15 months posts undergraduate qualification), this guy admits that he doesn't know what he's doing, that he'll speak to the GP later and phone me back with the outcome later that day. He phones me back later that day saying they don't know what to do so they're going to refer me to a hospital specialist, the hospital appointment should be sent to me in 10 months or so.

The few times I have had to go to the A&E department with my kid, I've taken chargers, entertainment devices, extra coat for my kid to use as a blanket, food (2 full packed meals), water, video game console.......I'm expecting to be there for about 6 hours if things move really quickly.

The state of national healthcare in this country. Thank you Conservatives, for 13 years of record low investment.

Brazil.

If I'm at home and simply unwell, I can walk to the neighborhood clinic (one specific clinic based on my address) and get checked - that usually takes half an hour to a couple hours, but it may not always have a doctor available.

So most people skip the local clinic completely and go to a municipal hospital instead (something doctors often plead people not to do). These should always have a couple doctors available and they'll see anybody - even if you have no documents. When you get there a nurse will check your pulse and stuff and ask some questions to determine your priority level, then the waiting time can go up to 4 hours if it's low priority.

If you need specific exams, that will depend on how well equipped the hospital is. Many will do it right there, some will request it from other cities and that may take time, so there's the option of doing it in private clinics too.

No matter what you may end up needing, if you do it through the public health system you won't need to pay anything at all. Even experimental treatments and surgeries can get arranged. But there's always the option of going to private clinics as well. Those can have much shorter waiting times.

Based on my limited experience, this is what people seem to do for each kind of visit:

Emergencies: pretty much everybody go to public hospitals. Most places don't even have private options for this.

Basic check up: most people will use the public system first, unless it's something very specific and they are well financially.

Dental care: most people who won't be financially crippled by it will go private. People tend to stick with the same dentist once they find a good one. On the public system you never know who you might be seeing.

Eye doctor: 50/50. There are nearly as many private options for this as there are for dental care, but a lot of them suck.

Expensive exams and operations: people will try to get them for free at first, or through some Health insurance plan they may have from work. Everybody knows someone who's been waiting months for something on the public system.

Germany,rural area.

I call my GP. It might take a few tries to get through. Tell the receptionist what I've got, she is more or less trying to triage me. When it's urgent enough and I am calling early enough I can usually get there on the same day but have to wait longer at the office,if it's less serious it's mostly one or two days,but with less waiting time at the office. To check in you hand them your insurance card. Medication is prescribed electronically, so you just hand the card (or do it online) at the pharmacy. The GP visit is free, medication has a small, limited copay. You get fully paid for 6 weeks of sickness per diagnosis by your employer, reduced pay for up to 2 years by the health insurance.

If it's an illness requiring a specialist I can also try to book an appointment for that directly - but while that works well in larger cities it is totally impossible here, you simply won't get an appointment, not even in a year. The same happens when your GP refers you to a specialist,but there are mechanisms to give you a more urgent appointment - which works sometimes,sometimes they don't.

Canada. It's generally easy and free (no direct cost to me). I try to avoid having to go to my doctor whenever possible and I live with a nurse (and my doc knows that). Usually when I send him a message, either by email or by calling, he'll have a follow up question or two (sometimes none) then decide a course of action and move right to implementation. Sometimes that's sending a script to my local pharmacy, sometimes that's a referral to a specialist. Who knows? I haven't seen the guy in years. But if he made the request for me to go in, I would without hesitation.

I know my experience isn't the same as others, since my doctor and my spouse have actually worked together; but still. It's all free and there's usually minimal waiting.

The only significant delays I've heard of in Canadian healthcare relate to major procedures when the issue is non-critical. Like getting an MRI as a precaution, to make sure things aren't messed up or something (IDK what MRIs are used to diagnose, I am not a doctor).

Everything is triaged, so if you're not actively dying from a thing, and you need a big piece of equipment to scan you to figure something out, you're going to be waiting a while.

From south Brazil.

For something not urgent I can usually get a private GP within a week or a specialist within a month.

For something a bit more urgent, usually 1-2 hours in a private hospital, or 2-6 hours in a public one.

When going private the health insurance has always covered everything, so no cost.
Never had an emergency so I can't say how it is.

Canadian here. My son just had an ear infection that was lasting 3 days. On the 3rd morning we called our doctors office to have it checked. They were able to squeeze us in at noon. Took him, and they couldn't tell if it was viral or bacterial, so suggested we wait and see if it clears. Didn't clear after another 2 days, but it was the weekend now. Called 811 and they contacted a medical center to make us an appointment in the morning. Next morning (Sunday now) office called us, made an appointment and saw him again. This time we got a prescription for some antibiotics.

I've taken a course about anti-microbial resistance and I understand that doctors are instructed not to go with antibiotics first thing so it didn't really bother me to go back a second time. It was nice they it was easy to be seen again even if it wasn't with the family doctor.

Germany: If I'm sick and want an appointment asap I just go. They tell you to call in advance but if you do they give you an appointment for another day and if you just rock up they tell you to sit down and wait for the doc. Which can take anywhere between 5 minutes and 5 hours, at least that's about the range I've experienced. Oh and not sure if that's only a thing here but it's common to awkwardly greet the other patients when you get into the waiting area.

Seeing the doc would be similar to the US I guess, except there's no need to discuss money. Doctors shake hands here, maybe that's different from you but Idk. After the appointment you check in with the front desk again to fetch any prescriptions (although those are mostly digital since last year) and notes you may need for work. That's also the time to book a follow up appointment if you need one.

Cost depends on what you got. Getting extensive bloodwork or some less "necessary" exams for example aren't covered by insurance. There's a flat 5€ fee for prescription meds and 10€ per day in a clinic. If you don't have enough money you can let the insurance company know and they'll cover some of those fees too.

Slovakia

Notify my employer that I won't show up, go to doctor and wait in the waiting room. When the nurse shows up, give her the insurance card and wait for your turn. They'll check you, and if it's nothing special (requiring a specialist), you'll probably get prescription for some meds to pick up.
Then you get those in a pharmacy. Either it's electronic, or if the system is once again broken, you hand them the Rx paper that the Dr. gives you in that case. And then you figure out what you're about to pay. A lot of things will be fully covered by insurance, but potentially you'll have to copay. There's also a chance the Dr. tells you to get something that isn't covered, like some specific eyedrops, cough meds, probiotics (if you have antibiotics for example), etc.

The pharmacist may recommend a cheaper alternative, will likely tell you recommended dosage, tell you that once again this specific Dr. prescribed something that hasn't been manufactured for the past 30 years, and in the rare case, tell you the prescription seems dangerous and to contact the Dr.
And also decrypt any handwriting/encoding.

I'm an American, but when I lived in Japan, I needed to go to the doctor a few times. Honestly, the experience isn't great aside from it being cheap.

For example, I herniated a disc in my neck at one point and needed to go to the emergency department. I got there just after 10:00 a.m. and was told that they stop accepting patients at 10:00. "Fortunately", I was unable to hold my head up straight, so they decided to see me anyway. The appointment was just over the equivalent of $20 at the time. They prescribed a muscle relaxer and sent me on my way. The prescription could be filled a block or two away and was pretty quick and only cost about 10 bucks. (Edit: I should note that this was a very temporary solution. The problem lasted for years.)

Another time, I went to a clinic to try to get a sinus infection treated. I had/have a history of chronic sinus infections. Despite speaking pretty good Japanese and having a dictionary with me, I could not get them to understand the concept of a sinus infection. They put me on a nebulizer and then sent me home. Obviously not helpful. Don't remember what it cost.

Ex had gallbladder issues that ran in the family.

One night she had bad abdominal pain. Drive over and rush her to hospital. Gets in 15 minutes. Nurses provide aid and pain relief, night shift ER doc looks her over, determines is likely gall bladder and it needs to be removed based on pain. Morning doctor looks her over, says it's not bad enough to warrant immediate attention, sends her home with painkillers, an appointment for an ultrasound and a 6 month-ish waitlist for removal.

--

Two nights later, same story, she opts for an ambulance this time. This time the same night shift doctor stays a bit late to ensure that she gets an ultrasound right away.

Gets sent home after the ultrasound and told that they will phone with next steps same day.

11am, go back to the hospital, get told that she is being admitted for immediate gallbladder removal. Ended up taking a day and a half to get to the surgery because of a bad motorcycle accident then two emergency c-sections tired out the only surgeon available and his staff over a straight 24 hour shift. 8 hours sleep and she was first up. Got it out, follow up at a nurse practitioner to get the drain removed.

Cost to us: $0

Canada, I make an appointment with my family doctor, usually within a week, free. Specialists are more annoying because our right wing provincial government keeps chipping away at public healthcare and justifying it with its own results, but generally goes pretty quick too.

It's pretty much bullshit, you just get ignored or condescended to by assholes who want you out of their office so they can get the next "billable" in. When you demand competent attention, they just use their knowledge of the system to fuck with you. I had a doctor write me out a prescription the pharmacist took away, hiding the evidence of the doctor writing out a female hormone prescription rather than an appropriate treatment. 3 year wait list for a specialist, turned up they day of to find it had been cancelled a year prior. No recourse, can't contact these people by phone, when you trick the accounting dept to put you through to the office you had the appointment with, they lose their shit on you. STD check request? You get some moron demanding to know why you feel the need for testing. Canada, btw. I haven't had health insurance in 9 years, the first 6 because that province I lived i flat out refused to issue a health card, and the last three i this province, just because I am so over their bullshit I no longer care, I ever get hurt bad enough again need help, I'll worry about it then I guess. They just tend to let you die anyways, as far as diseases, injuries they'll do what they can, but cancer and the like they wait you out.

UK and Australia I’m originally from the UK but lived in Aus for 20 years. I returned to the UK a year ago due to my Mom getting a terminal diagnosis.

In the UK I’ve had two GPs this year due to moving around. First GP you’d request appointments via an online form that was available for about an hour at the start of every day and they’d send you a date and time once they’d triaged all the requests. Usually got in within a day or two. Second GP requires a call, and you can book an appointment provided it’s not a busy day, again usually 2-3 days depending on how busy they are. Both GPs were via the NHS, so no upfront cost, just a small amount taken from your pay each month.

In Aus, my GP was free at the point of delivery. It was pretty easy to get appointments and if you really wanted to see him, you could just turn up and wait until he could fit you in. Sometimes a 2 hour wait, but you could put your name down and return in 2 hours. I’m planning to change GP when I get back so will probably end up finding one where you pay an additional fee. There’s almost no doctors where you don’t pay extra any more.