I tried to find some good data around surgery wait times by OECD countries but couldn't find much except it seems that Canada + UK + US have bad wait times compared to other OECD countries.

Does double healthcare cost = less wait times? Are there less wait times for private insured vs those using public system? Would love to see the data if you have any...

I did find some stats around infant mortality and life expectancy. US ranks 5th on infant mortality and 31st on life expectancy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expe...

Yet US still ranks #1 on total health expenditure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_hea...

You can't pretend the US doesn't have wait lists of its own.

I'm trying to schedule an MRI and the first appointment was 2 months out (I might have been able to get an earlier appointment somewhere else, but the neurologist said I should just keep this appointment). I've been trying to schedule PT for a couple months, as well. I've called the PT office every single day for over a week waiting for my approval to come back from billing so I can schedule an initial evaluation.

Ironically, there's a program funded by my state offering in-home OT services twice a week. I don't pay anything out of pocket. It did take a month to set up, but everything that would have been covered by insurance would be in an office (but they didn't even have those options available).

When, besides emergencies, do you go in to the doctor and come out with a surgery in the same day in the US or even the same week? My only real surgery was emergency or reconstructive right after the swelling went down. All of my oral surgeries were at least 2 weeks and could easily have been a few months out. Wifes major oral surgery was months in advanced.

Also you're assuming that by not getting employers to pay for healthcare as the US has it today, that wait times will somehow be reduced...