Which country are you in and what’s a typical doctor visit like? How much? Wait time? Etc
German here.
If I’m sick I just go to their practice during consultation hours. Without an appointment I have to wait a little, but rarely more than an hour. Then I get called in, the doctor takes a couple minutes to listen to me describing my symptoms, possibly does some minor checking, then writes me a prescription for whatever treatment I will need or a transfer slip to a specialized doctor.
For emergencies I can just go to the hospital. Oh, all of this costs me nothing at all, maybe a couple euros co pay for medications.
Well not entirely true. We pay 9~10% out of our gross salary for this service
Ah yes of course, the system must be financed somehow in the end. Still infinitely better than the american system which works worse for the average citizen and costs a lot more.
French here. Basically all the same.
French here. when sick, I use an app to book a appointment to a medical center I have that’s like 5 minutes away by foot ( not typical for all french residents but I am quite lucky with where I live). I usually have an appointment in the next 2 to 4 hours tops. Depending on what it is, I walk away with a prescription and certificate for work stating how many sicks days I have. This costs me nothing, appart from the occasional optional medication that is not reimbursed.
This feels like a joke.
Like, just name all the shit that is wrong with the US and flip it joke.
Comparison, my wife wasn’t feeling well and insisted on going to the Dr. The closest appointment was over a week away, and the Dr. told her to go to the ER instead. Took a 25 minute drive to the nearest ER in the city, got her vitals in a few minutes and then waited hours to see a Dr who basically gave her 2 cups of coffee and some Tylenol and then had us go home. We won’t get the bill for months, but it’s usually in the 800 dollar range, and that is with insurance.
I’m in the US if that wasn’t obvious.
That’s depressing, I can only imagine what it’s like to ponder wether or not to get checked because you can’t afford it…
My general rule of thumb, if there isn’t a significant risk to life, limb, or senses in the next 24 hrs, I’m not going to the ER.
I don’t go to a GP ever. They stole my blood and piss, and then told me to come back in 6 months and did it again. The headache of setting up the appointments, rescheduling work, travel, and copays means it just isn’t worth it.
Finally, if I have an injury, and it’s still affecting my daily life 3 days later, then I go to urgent care, and sometimes that even feels like a waste of money. Cost 180 bucks for me to get a pinched nerve in my shoulder diagnosed (couldn’t sleep for 3 days) and they prescribed me maximum strength acetaminophen and some steroids which blew my heart rate up to unsafe levels so I stopped taking them. Pain finally went away about 4 days later on its own.
Same here, but sometimes there is a day or rarely more (when everyone is sick in school in the winter and your kids bring it home to you for example), so you have to wait or get an appointment with another doctor (we usually go to the same one). In these rare cases I usually wait when I know I don’t need to go to the doctor but I need the work-paper so I get paid.
Also you can always call a “flying doctor” (they come by car 😁) or go directly to the hospital if you feel it’s an emergency. There is a semi-urgent phone number you can use to sort out your options too if you don’t really know.
I have used them all BTW.
Brazil
An USian journalist recently described his health care treatment in Brazil: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/06/29/brazil-health-care-sus-hospitals/
I believe this is a good description of the public health care here. I disagree with his statement on workers’ strike. He didn’t mention that Bolsonaro and Temer (last 2 presidents) reduced spending in public health care which probably impacted the hospital this journalist got taken care.
The Netherlands
I call my doctor, make an appointment the same day, go there, tell my story, get referred to a specialist or get meds or whatever, all covered by insurance.
Specialist: sometimes appointment within a week or 2, sometimes it takes a month. It’s covered by insurance, but there’s an own risk budget each year of 380 euros. So all costs up to that budget are paid by yourself, the rest is covered. But since I’m getting mental health care, I pay 380 each januari and the rest for the entire year is all covered. This year I’ve had a broken collarbone repaired with a metal plate with all the photos before and after, I had 2 bladder infections which needed antibiotics and I had food poisoning on holiday and intestand infection, which was all covered at home and abroad.
Insurance
I pay 180 a month. It includes dental and some extras like 9 physical therapist appointments.
Brazil:
Call an Uber, go to the hospital, grab a ticket, pass thru triage, called by name, show my id, triage decide which specialist to see, go to specialist waiting room and wait to be called by name.
Doctor examines me, ask for exams, maybe prescribe medication, do the exams, wait for result.
Back to doctor, prescribe medication, hospital provides medication (unless is something very uncommon, if so go to the pharmacy and buy it).
Call Uber, go home.
Total cost: Uber fare, usually about 6 dollars total.
Insurance is about 180 reais for two people, or about 30 dollars per month.
No need to call in advance and book.
Poland:
If I’m sick or it’s the 1st step in getting something diagnosed: I call the (public) clinic to book an appointment, get a date within like 3 days max. I usually leave with a prescription and paid doctor’s leave for work. The visit costs nothing. If it’s urgent you can walk in without an appointment or call the ambulance/go to the ER in your local hospital. This is free.
Sometimes the doctor gives you a medical referral to a specialist or for a certain test. This can be realized in the public health system, or at a private clinic.
Wait times vary a lot - some things like a blood test are very quick, but some specialists in the public system have very long wait times. Like, 6 months to a year. Some surgeries in the public system can take even longer. The public system is free, or has a small symbolic fee.
The private system is much faster for certain specialists - dentists, psychologists, dermatologists, injury rehabilitation, ect. but it also can’t do everything. In my experience, almost all serious and niche surgeries are done in the public system for example.
Overall it’s a decent experience, but the system is severely underfunded. This isn’t really a case of mismanagement imo, it’s genuinely just a lack of money in the system. Some surgeries can get delayed because money allocated for them ran out for the year.
Netherlands here, I call, have an appointment the same or next day, insurance covers all costs.
If they proscribe meds, I pay a part up until a maximum of 385 euros per year (called “own risk”) , anything above that is covered as well.
I’m also covered for physiotherapy (18 sessions without “own risk”), psychological therapy, dentistry and a variety of alternative medicine!
I pay a pretty hefty premium, like 170 euros a month, but that’s because I have the lowest “own risk” and I blow through that in the first month or 3 with my rickety ass body 😂
Definitely beats footing the bill completely, I’ve seen what dentistry costs 😱
Very affordable! 170 euros is less than typical US Obamacare insurance, which isn’t top-grade and I don’t think includes dentistry.
385 is less than typical Obamacare per MONTH, depending on the state you’re in.
My bad, I quoted their yearly “at risk” not their monthly premium. Fixed it.
UK.
Until recently, if I wanted an appointment I had to phone the GP surgery the moment it opened at 8:30 in the morning, wait in a phone queue for ten minutes or so before I got to speak to a receptionist who’d give me an appointment with which ever GP had some free time that day. It wasn’t usually possible to book an appointment several days in advance.
A couple of months back they switched to an app which gives much more flexibility, allows you to choose which doctor you want to see and allows you to book appointments in advance. I do worry that they’re going to push everyone to use that since old gippers are likely to struggle with the app unless they’re semi-tech savvy. Also, it’s obvious to me that they’re setting this up to use AI to triage requests if they’re not already doing that.
Appointments always used to be face to face but since covid they’re increasingly phone consultations especially for follow-ups. If it’s a first, diagnostic appointment it’s still likely to be face to face though.
For face to face, the wait time is generally less than half an hour from the point I get to the GP surgery.
Obv. it’s free at the point of use. I’ve paid my taxes.
Edit to add: if you’re on low income, or are a child, old, etc you get your prescriptions free. Otherwise you have to pay for them at £9.90 per 2 month prescription. I’m on a shitload of medication and that would normally cost me well over £500 a year, but I get a prepayment certificate which costs me £114.50 a year and covers all medication.
United Kingdom (Bristol.)
Used to be pretty decent, but now the NHS is chronically overbooked and underfunded. Ambulances can take hours to come.
Only way to get a GP appointment is to literally call my practice at 8AM on the dot, wait in the queue and hope you’re lucky to have your call answered before all the appointments are gone. There is no online booking system, and if you call at any other time, they won’t be able to book you in advance unless you’re willing to wait months.
My dad (80 years old) has had to go to hospital a few times in the past few years for various reasons, and the longest he’s had to wait to be admitted into a ward was 13 hours. He had a hip replacement operation two years ago where he was on an 18 month waiting list.
My GP surgery was the same (except 8:30 not 8:00), but moved to an app a couple of months ago. Given that I suspect the point of it is to allow an AI to triage appointment requests I wouldn’t be surprised if yours ‘upgrades’ as well.
I was on vacation in Portugal and twisted my ankle badly. It was in remote area, so hospital was not the best. But experience was ok. It was in a town with around 25k people. 2 hours of waiting. x-ray and doctor visit costed me 55 euros.
In my home country I pay 20 euros per month for private health insurance. This includes basic dental insurance. I guess, most expensive procedure I had is MRI of brain, but it was also fully covered so I’m not sure what was the price. There is free healthcare but I only had to resort to it once
Ireland here. I have been relatively lucky with my health since I’ve been here (last 10 years). The GP I go to gives a small discount because of where i work. I pay 50 euros a pop to see the doc (usually 60 I think) but the last two times I needed to see the doc it was a same day appointment. I paid for insurance the first year I was here, tried to use it when I saw a GP and they laughed in my face. Also frequently had my daughter seen (for free), they seem to keep increasing the age for which kids are seen for free, now up to age 7?
US expat in Colombia
For the general population, if you’re sick you go to urgent care and maybe wait for several hours. If you need to see a specialist, those appointments can take a couple of weeks to a couple of months, depending on the type of specialty. Either way, the cost is about $3 (all prices are rough equivalents in USD) per visit to see a doctor.
My employer signed me up for private insurance that gives me “concierge service,” so I have access to a different network of doctors with shorter wait times. If I’m sick, I can get a same-day house call. If I need a specialist, I can usually get an appointment in a two-week time frame. I pay about $50 per month for that (in addition to my normal taxes, which are used to fund the public system). My copay per visit, regardless of the type of doctor or procedure (exams, MRIs, etc.) is about $10.
One time, I paid out of pocket for an ultrasound because I didn’t want to wait for the insurance company to approve it and go back for a separate appointment. It cost me about $25.
Norway, I book online if it’s not urgent and wait a few weeks. If it’s urgent I call them and get it same day. Costs about ~250 NOK or ~20 USD I think. Public doctors are always at least 45 minutes late (unless you are late if course, then they call you on time)
I also had a non-urgent matter, but felt like wait time was too long (holiday season) so I went to a private clinic, got appointment same day and paid about 700 NOK I think.
I go there, tell my story, if they need to take some samples they can usually do them on site right away for no additional charge.
If I need some medicine they prescribe that and tell me to come back in x weeks if it’s not getting better.
If they can’t help me I get a referral. It could take a long time to get certain procedures, especially if they are not urgent/very important, but most of the time it’s been a few weeks for my issues.
My GP is often running 15-20m late, but the flipside of that is that there’s not really a sense of urgency during the appointment. Doctors here take their time with you, which is very pleasant.
Also in Norway. Can generally see my FL in one or two days. He is always on time and takes good care of me. I can also just send a message for many things. Legavakt is nearby if something major comes up. My daughter’s experience is closer to yours and she too has seen private a few times. Good to have options.
Do you need to pay for any prescription medicine?
Yes, at the pharmacy, but it’s not very much, I pay maybe 200 NOK for my two allergy medicines combined, they both lasts me about 3 months.
I just checked and there’s a maximum payment of 520 NOK for 3 months worth of medicine for chronic illness, it’s more complicated if there’s more than one illness and multiple medications, but the norm is maximum 520 NOK for the months.
Amd ylthe cost I pay for prescription drugs for one time prescription have always been so small that it almost don’t register.
Netherlands. I can call to make an appointment, or do it online. Then i walk/bike there, its in the neighbourhood. We have about 10 minutes for an appointment. The doctor either refers me to a specialist, prescribes drugs (most doctors have a pharmacy attached), or does small procedures. For jabs, check ups, stool samples, that type of stuff, the assistent takes care of it most of the time. You can leave without paying.
We pay a monthly insurance that pays for everything, basically. im over simplifying, its not that straightforward, but its what it boils down to.
I’m in France in a small village but I’m quite lucky with the doctor situation.
If I’m sick I go online, see what shot is available for my doctor and book it, usually in the best few days. If it’s urgent I can call or go there and I’ll usually get an appointment during the day with my doctor or one of the other two doctors working there.
Then I walk there since it’s 400m away.
