While it remains to be seen how quality of care in Obamacare pans out, recent data shows overall U.S. average wait times decreased slightly over the last decade from 20.9 days to 18.5 days to see specialists or family practitioners.
In 2006, Massachusetts implemented its own health care reform law. According to some experts, trends we’ve seen develop there give some idea of what to expect now nationwide with Obamacare. While it remains to be seen how quality of care pans out, recent data shows overall U.S. average wait times decreased slightly over the last decade from 20.9 days to 18.5 days to see specialists or family practitioners.
Boston, Massachusetts, had the longest wait times with an average 72 days to meet with a dermatologist versus 66 days for a family doctor.
Shortest wait times were in the Dallas, Texas, with an average 10 days for specialists versus 5 days for a family doctor.
Medical consulting company Merritt Hawkins surveyed around 1,400 doctor offices in 15 metro areas in 2004, 2009, and 2013 before coverage increased with Obamacare.
Merritt Hawkins says longer wait times are partially because there aren’t enough medical providers. Improvement over the last decade seems mostly due to more patients being seen by nurse practitioners and urgent care centers.
Additional factors that may influence upcoming wait times include more people on Medicaid coverage versus where it’s accepted; higher deductibles and co-pays discouraging people from care; and office staff’s scheduling systems along with competency in managing patient volume.
