In a recent social media thread, dozens of people — even those with serious medical conditions — are speaking about the unnaturally long times they have to wait for an appointment with a specialist.
The original poster shared that her friend couldn’t get a neurology appointment after a stroke until May 2026 (yep, you read that right), and she herself couldn’t get an appointment with a gastrointestinal doctor until November. Several other users replied with similar sentiments about this problem — which is one of many in the U.S. health care system.
Many theories about why this is happening are floating around, and many of them are correct, doctors say. Below, specialists tell all about what’s going on behind the scenes and what they advise patients to do until more systemic changes can be made.
There’s a shortage of specialists.
The first reason is perhaps the most obvious: People have to wait forever to see a specialist because there simply aren’t enough.
“I am a vascular stroke specialist and there are not enough stroke physicians to handle the volume of stroke follow-ups required,” said Dr. Ashish Nanda, a neurologist at Providence St. Jude Medical Center. “I’m sure similar challenges are being faced by other specialties, like cardiovascular.”
Dr. Samuel R. Browd, a neurosurgeon and the chief medical officer and cofounder at Proprio, has seen this, too — especially in rural areas and smaller hospitals.
“The problem is only set to worsen: The Association of American Medical Colleges projects a shortage of up to 86,000 physicians in the U.S. by 2036,” he added. “What’s more, it takes thousands of hours (at least 13 years) of rigorous training to become a surgeon, further limiting the pipeline of specialists available to meet demand.”
As a pediatrician and pediatric interventional cardiologist, Dr. Alesandro Larrazabal, chief medical officer and cofounder of Clarity Pediatrics, can also attest to this. He said fewer doctors are entering his specialty.
“Last year, 30% of pediatric residency programs did not fill their positions,” he said. “And those who do enter pediatrics are less incentivized to pursue a subspeciality because of the lower compensation than offered by most adult subspecialties.”
Specialists aren’t always in network with insurance providers, which limits availability.
Not only is the health care field low on specialists, but it’s low on specialists who accept insurance, Nanda said — which is…
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