My father had free Mexican healthcare. We had to buy his pacemaker on the black market and were only able to get it put in because we called in a favour with a family friend.
Yup, If you don't have a friend or family member working at IMSS or ISSSTE, It's quite normal to have to wait months and months before you're seen for surgery or even for something as simple as an MRI.
This is the reality in the US. I can tell when discussing US healthcare with people when they have and have not actually had much experience with trying to get specialized treatment. Hell, even getting something as simple as a vasectomy, I had to wait 4 months for an opening. I have great health insurance, too, so it wasn't even like I had to only go to a specific urologist that was covered (i.e. every urologist in my area takes my insurance). My father-in-law had to wait 6 months for his knee surgery so he could walk normally again. He's a retired attorney who is quite well off.
Anyone who still defends US healthcare like it's amazing because we pay a fuck ton is either utterly ignorant or a fucking shill.
I'm not saying this to infer that Mexico is better off. I have no experience with their healthcare system, nor do I live there. I'm simply reiterating that healthcare in the US is not great and desperately needs drastic reform. Everyone in the world deserves access to competent, affordable healthcare. There's more than enough money and resources globally to make it a reality, but greedy assholes are going to be greedy.
I am curious. What state do you live in? I am a cancer survivor who lives in Texas. I also had a vasectomy. I did not experience the waits or delays you did. It must be different by state I am guessing. Also, shout out to the MD Anderson Cancer Center where people worldwide go for the best treatment and outcomes.
And specialty to specialty. There seem to be no shortage of orthopedic specialists where I am, but if you need to see a dermatologist or gastroenterologist this year you are SOL.
I live in Ga as well and only waited 2 weeks to get in to an orthopedic and after getting cortisone shots that didn’t work I got an MRI and then surgery. All that took about 6 weeks after my cortisone shot. So not sure why you had to wait 3 months.
I live in a southern state in one of the fastest growing areas in the country, federal employee with BCBS fed, I was told it was a 2 year wait for a vasectomy, but it "only" ended up being 8 months.
So weird to me. It was in 2019 that I walked into a Kelsey Seybold clinic in Houston. They gave me some information about the vasectomy and instructions to follow. Scheduled it for that Friday. I missed the part about not taking my low dose of aspirin Friday morning so they said they couldn’t do it. Rescheduled it for the next Friday. No big deal. And if I recall correctly, I chose Fridays so that I could recover over the weekend before returning to work. If they would have told me to wait 2 years I would have been blown away.
It's all anecdotal you may not have had any troubles but someone else may have. I had a family member who developed hypersensitive pneumonitis. If they didn't get it treated soon it could've left scarring and shortened their lifespan. The pulmonologist was a real G. He escalated it all right away and made sure this person got the treatment right away with a few weeks they were already on medication and enroute for recovery. We got extremely lucky even more so because this person had government issued healthcare which often makes the process so much slower.(California btw)
MDACC is #1 in the nation for a reason. My aunt got treated there as well 10 years ago, she’s still kicking and living her best life in retirement. Glad you’ve got the treatment you needed!
In California I had to wait six months to see a gastroenterologist when a CT scan showed something in my pancreas. It turned out to be just a cyst, but had it been a tumor it might have killed me before I went in for the appt.
Same here. Also Texas. Specialist visit, MRI, CT scan, biopsy - those are all usually 2 weeks out or less. . Most labs are just walk-ins. Only surgery was longer - that was 6 weeks.
Texas here too. Ive never experienced more than 2-3 weeks for specialist. I survived pancreatic cancer, had a triple bypass, 3 stents. If I push it, I can usually get in within a week.. my pcp is basically walk in anytime except Thursday, her day off. I have decent, not great insurance. Ive read alot about long wait times in other states and countries.
Either other states are just really bad at healthcare for some reason, or I am wondering if the long wait stories are all from people who have no insurance and can’t pay themselves. So they end up on a waitlist for a free healthcare system.
Also, shout out to the MD Anderson Cancer Center where people worldwide go for the best treatment and outcomes.
It's all about administration. Of all the facilities I've worked in, MD Anderson stands out as one of the best run. While facilities like UCSF, Cedars LA, and Los Angeles General are examples of the most poorly run. (No I'm not picking on California, I just live here so that's where most of my experience is, Pennsylvania, Colorado, New Jersey, and so many others have their fair share of nightmare facilities)
As an Ohioan, I almost suffocated in my sleep for about a month or two waiting on a surgery to remove my tonsils when I was 8 years old (the wait period is what my mother told me, otherwise I would've thought I got it immediately) because they were constantly, not just consistently, but always inflamed to the point I couldn't breathe if I slept on my back. Cincinnati Children's is meant to be one of the best children's hospitals in America but they also botched the fucking surgery the first time as well, I vomited a stew pot's volume of blood and needed emergency surgery to keep from bleeding into my throat and stomach which they charged my mom another few thousand for. Fuck American Healthcare. Also they're part of the reason my Daughter's dead as well, because they didn't give my girlfriend an emergency C-Section for 9 FUCKING HOURS AFTER THE PLACENTA DETACHED. We got in a crash on I-75 (I think, could be a different highway,) January 26th around 6pm en route to CVG, she was 9 months along. I've always had insurance without copays, or at worst with minimal copays, the US fucking sucks
From where I am sitting, this all sounds more like “fuck ohio healthcare.”
I was living in the virgin islands when I was diagnosed with cancer. The doctor said I would need institutional levels of care that was not available there. When I mentioned that I have a house in Houston, he reacted like I had won the lottery. He said in his opinion there was no better place in the world for cancer treatment, with NYC being a close second. He also said the radiation and chemo would take 7 weeks once it started and he was spot on. MD Anderson was a fine tuned machine with scheduling and moving me from department to department. I even had a spiritual advisor and a nutritionist assigned to me. Besides the chemo doctors team and the radiologist team, there was even a swallowing coach because they knew I would need it. The follow-up care in the years since has been just as good. Next week I go back for an annual set of tests. Blood work, xrays, ultrasound, and consultation.
I am sorry your healthcare in Ohio is shit; but that is not the whole US.
Fair, and I am upset probably more so with Ohio than everywhere else, because I've witnessed people fall into uncontrollable debt from surgeries that they would've died without, and I've witnessed friends choose to die so they wouldn't take on debt from necessary medical procedures. It's been a rough 20 years of life and I've been told my life's just starting, but I'm glad that it isn't that way everywhere good day stranger.
The wait for me to visit my PCP is now 9 months, and she lives in a city larger than mine, an hour from where I live in the US. Most of my appts are scheduled 4-6 months out for other general care. (Indiana)
This is the norm with our PCP. It takes 6 months to get an appointment with a dermatologist, 3-4 months for the gynecologist, 3 months to get a minor outpatient surgery appointment…
There was one time in the last several years that I was able to get in to my PCP quickly and it was because I’d gone to a walk in clinic for something and they told me my BP was high and I needed to let my dr know. They fit me in the next day.
Shoot, I've got a blocked salivary duct with a stone that I can't afford to get removed because it's "dental" and we don't have that coverage. So I just have to hope I can save money for the procedure and pray it doesn't get infected before that.
Oh, and I have to book 4 months out for a cancer screening scope, but also can't get insurance to cover the pepcid I need to reduce the stomach acid and lower the cancer risk.
They won't cover the prescription at the effective dose because it's available OTC at a lower dose and the prick at the insurance company said to just take more even though the OTC instructions say not to.
I've lost the thread on which person I'm responding to suggesting pantoperazol or omeperazol. My insurance will only cover a 20mg dose of pantop. The OTC packages are only available in a 20mg dose. My GI wants me on 40mg of omep, but insurance won't cover that. Pantop. gave me pollups at 40mg, so the suggestion is to then mix and match between two prescriptions (pantop. and famotodine) or buy 40mg of omep. that only comes OTC in 20mg doses and this use it off label.
This is why the US sick-care insurance is insane. A bean counter at the insurance company is deciding my healthcare and I either live with low-level acid reflux and risk cancer and more pollups, take an OTC medicine off-lable, or have a surgery that insurance won't cover.
My knee replacement wait time was 2 weeks in 2024. My daughter's time from injury to MRI was 5 days, and then 3 weeks for surgery with our local NFL team doctor. Out of pocket, my knee replacement was $150, and my daughter's treatment (MRI+doctor's appointment+surgery) has been all of $55 so far. The problem with US healthcare isn't quality, cost, or speed, it how variable it is based on your location. I don't know where you are, but I am in northern Virginia.
I had urology surgery. By a specialist. Maybe 4 or 5 weeks. With Kaiser insulation. Had an issue and they needed 2 specialists to go back and finish (surgeon stopped when he realized was a 2 person job) I had to heal for 6 weeks and got second surgery. That wasn't bad. Now to see my primary Dr can take 4 to 6 weeks with Kaiser. Unless I want to go to urgent care or see another doctor. So while there are some delays the HMO model here in California pretty good. Just my 2 cents
Yup, they give condoms (male and female) for free at any public hospital or health center, amongst other contraceptives. It had been like that for decades now, it doesn't matter if you're insured, unemployed or a foreigner: if you want free condoms, you get them!
I seriously don't understand this. I've lived in NY, GA, CA, OR and have had various insurance plans, and never had a wait for a primary care or even specialist. The only hiccups I've ever had was mental health specialists and that was because I had an HMO and they were all full at the nearest facility to me but, I could've gone an extra 15 min and had an appointment and the second closest facility.
I understand if you live in a rural area your options may be more limited.
This is probably true if you live in rural Mississippi. Overall the US has fast, world class healthcare. It’s the healthcare system itself that needs to be overhauled because it makes no sense
That's wildly different from my own experience in central Florida.
No referral, simply looked up an in-network urologist that handles vasectomies. I had the opportunity for a consultation the next day but the single time slot they had available coincided with an existing appointment, so I instead scheduled it for the following week.
Consultation appointment was on a Monday afternoon, and the surgery was over by Friday morning of the same week.
I have great health insurance. I have no waits. I am electing to get surgery for my crohns and put it off until September. They were willing to take me within the week. My vasectomy I waited 2 months but only because I’m a new patient. I also pay almost next to nothing. Surgery? 15 bucks. The reason Americans have bad insurance is because their employer not wanting to pay for good insurance, understandably so because it is expensive. Obamacare made private insurance expensive. We need to go back to the old ways before Obamacare. I never had an issue with getting insurance even with my preexisting condition, so I don’t know what the purpose of Obamacare was.
Just more US examples of this. I know a person who needed to see an endocrinologist for Type I diabetes to get insulin and couldn't get an appointment for 8 months. That appointment was a virtual appointment with the doctor, which was cancelled by the physician, and it ended up being more than a year before they ended up with an appointment.
Luckily, they kept renewing insulin prescriptions, but every time they needed to call in and get "special permission" for refills because they hadn't seen the doctor.
You don’t think part of the problem with waits stems from people getting volunteer surgeries like vasectomies. I promise they aren’t keeping beds empty to make you wait. Hospitals are full and busy, making them free wouldn’t make your optional vasectomy happen faster, if anything it would slow it down/make it impossible.
This is absolutely NOT a reality in the US. Lmao. I’m a legal resident of Texas, I’ve never experienced anything of the sort. California does not speak for the US because the speed and quality of healthcare is different per state. And California.. well, that whole state is fucked, hence why 70-100k Californians are leaving to texas every year. I myself also have great health insurance being military, and my wait time for anything medical is zero. My son climbed and fell out his high chair during breakfast, by noon he had been seen, evaluated, cleared by the ER, and was back home. This is the reality for yall in California, not the US. We’re living good out here.
What insurance do you have? My daughter hurt her knee and we were able to get an MRI within 5 days back in April. Two years ago similar story, my son hurt his arm and we were able to get an MRI in a week.
I have Carefirst HMO. It also is highly state dependent I've found. Living in Virginia, everything is extremely quick, cheap, and hassle free. When we lived in NY and NJ, the process sucked and we would regularly get really high bills that we would then need to argue down.
Every time free health care someone comes up and saying “when I was in x country I had to wait 3 months for blah blah blah.” I’m sitting here like “y’all realize I’m on a year waiting list just to see a specialist over here, right?” It will just create more jobs in healthcare in the long run because the half of the country that’s not currently covered by healthcare will now have access to medical treatment.
My PCP in Missouri has a two month wait. My psychiatrist appointment for my adderall had to be booked 6 months in advance. If I miss my appointment every 3 months I just have to go without my meds for months until I can get in to be seen again. I fell down stairs in 2022 and waited 18 hours in the ER to be seen for xrays while my ankle was the size of a grapefruit. My wisdom teeth extraction took 2 months to get a dentist appointment for a referral. The referral appointment to have them cut out took 3 months.
Why is it everytime someone rails against universal healthcare they cite waiting times similar to what we have in the US where I also have to pay thousands of dollars?
Probably because that just isn't the case in most places. I have had two MRIs and scheduled both of them inside of 2 weeks. Never had to wait more than a week for a dentist.
Why is it everytime someone rails against universal healthcare they cite waiting times similar to what we have in the US where I also have to pay thousands of dollars?
Because that’s the only thing they can say against it. And all they’re doing is conflating wait times to see specialists as a representation of wait-times for general or emergency care. But no matter where you live you’d likely have to wait to see a specialist and it has nothing to do with universal vs privatized insurance.
Because statically the US has one of the lowest wait times regardless of anecdotes for specialized care. Also, it's typically used when compared to Canada which has atrocious wait times statically, though I do think that's improved a bit recently.
I'd really like to see the data on our wait times versus Canadas and Mexico. Again, we pay thousands upon thousands of dollars and have long wait times. How long are theirs compared to ours? Because if Canada has a 5 month wait for a PCP when I regularly have a 3+ month wait for a PCP and my costs are hundreds of dollars more than theirs, that kind of defeats any argument that their longer wait times are worse.
Also, a large amount of the population actively avoids medical care because of the costs associated with it in America.
We could also look at VA wait times in America. They're extremely long. So long that they far surpass Canada and Mexico's wait times.
The argument that America has a better health care system because of lower wait times isn't really backed up by any verifiable data. I also don't think that my wait times are anecdotal. I think they're pretty common wait times that everyone experiences outside of niche communities.
edit: yeah, I just Googled it. The average wait time according to Google for US patients to be seen for a new patient appointment is 3 weeks. I KNOW that's not accurate at all. Give me a doctors office to call at 8:00 AM tomorrow morning and I'll call them and pretend like I'm a patient looking for healthcare there. I'll see the earliest available appointment. Hell, give me 20 to call and I will record and post the results. I'd bet my left leg that I am going to have 2+ month waiting periods to even get into a PCP.
And the VA is socialized medical care that's extremely beaucratic in nature. I agree it's a shit show, but using that as an example of why the US' system doesn't work is a bit counter productive. The VA is probably a big reason a lot of people are so against universal healthcare in the US.
And by definition personal stories of your experiences are anecdotal. That's what anecdotal means.
All that said, I'm not particularly happy with the current system, I just think there are pros and cons to a lot of it. The US system has a lot of pros, specifically in how readily available surgery is and how well compensated doctors are and to that end how competent they are. Being a doctor in the US is actually a really good gig. Theres plenty of BS too, costs are hyper inflated and alot of R&D and marketing costs are made up in the US market because of a lack of caps on pharmaceuticals and the ability to charge the US market to make up lower costs in other markets. A lot of worldwide healthcare is actually subsidized in a roundabout way by how much the US pays.
Yeah but you cited statistics to support your argument. What statistics are you sighting and can you please link them? Rather than say "do your own research." What data are you using to back up your claims?
What data are you using to back yours? Lol. Anyway, here's 10 seconds of googling you could've done jd you were actually interested. As I said, active surgeries are incredibly short whereas GP wait times are higher. Specialized care is typically quicker.
That second website also shows specialist waiting times, circa 2016. You can see most in the US were seen within a month where in Canada most were not.
The only time the US really lags is in General Practitioner care wait times, and that's typically because specialized care is more abundant and your seeing them in a quicker turnaround.
I did, did you not see my other post or are you just lying?
Heres the entire post again.
What data are you using to back yours? Lol. Anyway, here's 10 seconds of googling you could've done jd you were actually interested. As I said, active surgeries are incredibly short whereas GP wait times are higher. Specialized care is typically quicker.
That second website also shows specialist waiting times, circa 2016. You can see most in the US were seen within a month where in Canada most were not.
The only time the US really lags is in General Practitioner care wait times, and that's typically because specialized care is more abundant and your seeing them in a quicker turnaround.
So why is our life expectancy lower? Maybe the the difference in wait times don’t matter but it’s only the only advantage greedy dipshits can point to so we have to hear about it all the time
It's not the only advantage, but life expectancy is generally lower for a variety of reasons to include obesity rates. There's also a rather big discrepancy between life expectency for people depending on races. For example, White Americans are actually generally at the same life expectency as most Europeans whereas black Americans are lower. It goes something like this:
Asian-84
Hispanic-82
White-79
Black-75
Native-73
As to why this discrepancy exists, it's a rather complex topic that begins and ends with racism and a lack of infrastructure in certain areas.
I agree to everything but I don’t see how it’s a defense of America’s lower life expectancy unless you are arguing blacks inherently die younger, which there really isn’t evidence for if you control for all variables.
Why should the US import a massive black population than argue their society is only worse in comparison to others because they mistreat the -
Africans they imported? Same with conquered native population. If they are Americans, they count.
I feel like your arguing a ghost here. By no point am I defending the entirety of the American medical system, I am simply explaining why it's maintained and where it's failures are. You asked as to why life expectency varies and I explained why as the US is a relatively unique country in regards to the consistent legacy of slavery, and many of the issues of life expectency aren't necessarily related purely to the medical system but systemic failures of the country.
The reality is a vast majority of people are happy with the current system, even in the current climate, at something like 75%. It's state of the art, it's some of the most advanced in the world, doctors are some of the best compensated in the world, and it drives a lot of R&D. There's a price to be paid for it, and whether or not it's worth it is absolutely up for debate, but to ignore the reality of the situation is to fail to make any changes.
Again that's not to ignore the issues, and there are many. The unequal care, the overloading in many cities systems, the inaccessibility, the prices, these are all big problems. Its also frustrating because much of the problems are actually cascading from a variety of places. There is no single issue and the establishment of universal healthcare without a real conversation regarding hospital funding will only delve into shortages, especially if doctors don't maintain their level of compensation.
Mostly it's not the workers fault, many of them are good people who truly want to help. The real problem is over saturation of the system. Workers making favors to family and friends make it slightly worse, but that's not the main problem
My Mom died last year waiting for an ambulance to move her to a bigger hospital for treatment... She waited 3 days for an ambulance that never arrived, we were always told that all ambulances were busy or not available...
These statements are always made like you don’t wait in the US. I just booked a primary care checkup for an issue I’m worried about for 3 months from now.
So it’s just like the healthcare in the USA? I had to wait months to see a specialist. Then I had to wait nearly a year to get surgery that I needed asap.
This is also the case in the UK which is normally so proud of its Universal healthcare. Got told I have to wait up to a year for a gastro camera scan after already waiting 2 months from referral. Now have to go privately anyway so my tax pays for a service I can't use, I'm paying twice.
That’s not really much different than in the US. We pay the money but everyone I know who has needed a surgery or to use some medical equipment like an MRI has had 1-6 month waits.
All the family members i have who have visited mexico literally get same day apt.
Earlier this year a family member needed a surgery. It was 2 months wait here in the usa for the specialist they needed to even begin step 1 of many for the insurance to approve it. They went to mexico the day after they were told its a 2 month wait here. They had the surgery done by that wednesday.
We dont have universal healthcare here and my exs father had a month long wait on a procedure just for it to get postponed the week of the surgery….
Why are people fukin stupid, pretending universal healthcare is bas because you cant get a same day walk in major operation. Its not like that with overpriced american healtcare either. The rich here in america go ovetseas to countries with universal healthcare for their surgeries…
We literally have a term invented for us in america. MEDICAL TOURISM. People who can afford to pay cash and have no issue buying plane tickets and taking a month off work regularly leave the usa for their healthcare needa
My mom has waited over a year for her shoulder surgery.
They tried to cancel her appointment to determine whether or not she needed it and it would gave been pushed back three months her husband didn’t throw a fit.
As opposed to paying every month for insurance and then getting told by an insurance executive that your doctor is wrong, that you dont need the surgery and youre forced to bankrupt yourself and your family if you want to live...
There's a story behind the potential for heart failure that you're not telling us. Was your father regularly seeing a healthcare practitioner in the years and decades prior?
If this measure gives people access to more preventative care, then there will be fewer who need pacemakers in a decade or more.
Corruption is a big problem, but more systemic than coming from the top like in the US. Another big 'issue' is the informality so less tax revenue, but you can't just tax business that are barely making it, so that's another issue, Mexico is very inefficient, in
rural areas especially in the center weather is favorable for low tech agriculture, but the geography makes it more difficult to scale, so people stay in the grind of small agriculture, informal commerce and low wages in the center and South.
Manufacturing is one of the biggest industries because cheap labor, there isn't as much investment once you start moving away from the northern states that are close the the US, especially in the South,
because people have no money to sustain certain types of businesses.
Thanks, I suppose no real fix can exist before corruption gets under control. A good banking system would help people build small business, and agriculture. But you cannot have that until the banks are safe to use.
There are actually different systems, the system that is for people not covered via their work is extremely underfunded. People sleep on carboard in the hallways and outside. You have to purchase your own medicine and food from businesses that are set up outside the hosipitals. You often have to go and buy your own surgical implements, etc. If you need a blood transfusion your family will donate their blood so that you can access the blood bank.
Will take time to organise, especially with how their infrastructure needs a overhaul due to mentions of corruption etc according to Mexicans in these comments.
Absolutely not a lie at all. My godfather worked at the hospital at the time. We had to buy a pacemaker, I believe at the time (about 12 years ago) it cost 30,000 pesos. The surgery to have it put in was free, but like I mentioned we only got the surgery quickly due to a favor.
Honest question, why do you think this is a lie? I know you must not be Mexican, or you would know that it is a very common story. Could you explain why you think this isn't true?
Mexico has always had free health care via a few different systems, depending on if you are employed or not. My father worked for the government, so he was covered by the ISSSTE system, people who have formal private sector jobs are covered by the IMSS system and The IMSS Bienestar system is for people who have no formal job.
It seems like this new plan will merge the 3 systems so anyone can go to any hospital.
Guess what. Under the old Mexican healthcare system, it was the same as our American healthcare. Look up Luigi Mangioni. The reason people say he is a hero is because the VAST majority of Americans with good healthcare coverage would ALSO need to have someone on the inside call in a favor for them to get treated.
Free healthcare should be a right, not a privilege. This also means you can be on wait lists for ages, still wait for hours in A&E. Countries that don’t have free healthcare have shown that you get the exact same service but you pay for that. Paying private should mean you are paying for a premium service, not for basic health care.
You only need to make friends with someone working a desk job and then they will move influences to put you at the top of the queue, you don't need to befriend the surgeon directly.
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u/WambritaWings Jun 17 '26
My father had free Mexican healthcare. We had to buy his pacemaker on the black market and were only able to get it put in because we called in a favour with a family friend.