Seniors

but similar in that some fairly serious problems that clearly required surgical fixes were nonetheless delayed for months, leaving me partially disabled and/or in pain during the interim.

Part of the problem was that it often took months just to get in to see the right kind of doctor. (Fwiw, I recently did a bit of rough internet research, and what I found indicated that there are actually more doctors per capita than there were 20 years ago, but they're working less hours.)

I also suspect doctors are having to jump through more hoops to get insurance claims paid, and that that is also having a negative effect on the quality of care we do get to the extent we get it, both because it sucks up their and their staff's time, and also because the docs are required to exhaust every cheaper, alternative treatment, etc., before resorting to surgery, and just generally to focus more on box-checking and documentation, so that they end up just going through the motions of care without actually giving as much of it as they used to.

The upshot is that care is delayed; but there's ultimately more expense involved for everyone concerned –– unless the patient dies or switches to different insurance coverage before actually receiving the most expensive treatment. In that case, the insurance company avoids having to pay for the worst of the expense.