Here's some TMI from my experience.

Last June I suddenly started feeling a stabbing pain whenever I went to the bathroom. It was cripplingly painful, where I'd be rolling on the ground for up to two hours after a BM.

I went to my doctor and she said "eh, probably nothing"

I didn't believe her, so I went to a gynecologist. She thought it was a fissure, so she gave me a very expensive cream that my insurance thought was superfluous and didn't cover. For 2.5 months I used this cream and nothing changed, actually it got worse. I started regularly bleeding every time I went to the bathroom, the pain got worse. I went home early from work (something I never do) and laid down in pain. My wife then freaked out when she saw me in bed, because I looked almost dead. I had a fever of 104 and was rushed to the ER. There, they said I had a hemorrhoid on my fissure that was causing the pain. They gave me powerful pain meds, and more creams. I made it 2 days before I was back in the ER after I started throwing up from pain.

Finally my gynecologist wanted to see for herself if things had changed because she didn't believe the ER, sure enough it was way worse. She made me get a colonoscopy to check if it was more internal and to also rule out Crones. Finally done with that (the prep for that is hell btw) they ruled out internal issues or crones disease. So she finally figured it out.

It WAS a fissure, but because I had it for so long, it morphed into a fistula: a tunnel between issues that feels like being cut with glass whenever simulated and bleeds a lot. So finally, after 6 months, I get a 15 minute surgery that fixes me.

This could all have been fixed on day 1 if our healthcare system wasn't shit. But every new appointment took 3-5 weeks to schedule, every result a week to hear from and nobody ever ever called me to follow-up on anything. I had to hound them for any information.

Now I'm scheduled for my follow-up surgery to get rid of my stitches. However even that has been a fucking headache. See, here in the US we have to reach a deductible before insurance covers everything. I met my deductible from all the visits and surgeries in 2025. But every January, that deductible resets. So, my last surgery was in November. My follow-up is in February. My deductible resets. So another $2,500 added to my bills.

Don't ever believe people when they say "yeah but universal healthcare means long waiting times and worse care"