Can You Imagine this Happening In the US?

I know people that call the doctor and if they have to wait 2 days for an appointment, will just go to the ER. And if you need a specialist (and it's not an emergency) a patient may wait 30 days or so.

But can you imagine if you had to wait over a YEAR??? And that's just for the consult.

The article doesn't say how long before procedures or surgery can be scheduled.

When we talk about Health Care Reform in the States, we picture something along the lines of cradle to grave care with the government footing the bill. Kinda like Denmark. Nice but it won't happen here.

A program like that in Ireland or England or even Canada would cause more protests than the Iraq war.

clipped from www.irishtimes.com Patients wait 480 days for appointment Figures produced as part of the pilot "HealthStat" programme, which compares performance in different hospitals, show that the Mid West Regional Hospital in Limerick had some of the longest average waiting times, among larger hospitals, for a consultant clinic outpatient appointment, writes Martin Wall The figures for the end of October reveal that the average waiting time for an appointment at a consultant clinic from the time of referral by a GP was 480 days in Limerick. However, within specific specialties in the hospital the waiting time for an outpatient appointment was longer. The figures show that the average waiting time for an outpatient department appointment to see a general surgeon was 600 days. At St James's in Dublin the average waiting time for an outpatient appointment to see a consultant was 100 days. In general hospitals, which would have fewer specialties, the picture for waiting times to see a consultant was also mixed.