does the US have local doctor's surgeries/General Practitioners?

Question

Because I've noticed when people from the US ask questions about injuring themselve or illnesses they say "i don't want to go to the ER?" When in Australia we'd just go to a GP for that particular ailment.
So do you not have GP's, or is it really expensive or something?

yeah sorry, I live in a suburban area, didn't think of rural. we regular hours too. I just wouldn't think of going to the ER for a sprained wrist or something.

Answer 1

It's a matter of cost, as well as convenience. People go to the ER because most people want things like a sprained wrist to be treated immediately, and you generally have to make an appointment with a primary-care physician, which means that it could be a couple of days before the doctor sees it. So, they instead just go to the ER and have it treated.

If you don't have insurance, going to the ER is less-expensive than receiving treatment at a primary-care physician, because having a physician see you in the ER is basically free, unless you have to be hospitalized. This has become a huge problem in certain areas, and I've heard that it was so bad in one ER (located in a very underdeveloped area) that they started charging people just $1.00 to be put on the waiting list in the ER, and usage dropped by 50% -- so I guess it's just as much of an issue about money as anything else.

Where I live, there are "urgent-care clinics" that are supposed to provide an alternative to going to the ER. They're open in the evenings and weekends, so the convenience of immediate treatment is there, and thus reserves the ER for truly emergent situations. However, they're still just as expensive as a GP for those without insurance, so that issue is still not ameliorated.

Answer 2

it also depends on where you are we are a large nation as is Australia, where I live is fairly rural, the closest GP to me is 40 miles away and as the previous poster has said, they have regular hours. we also have health insurance issues here. my particular insurance does not cover any GP fees until it is over $150 us- and then only if that GP is on the approved list- a regular office call with a regular GP would cost at least $75, and yes, the e.r. is more expensive but often insurances will cover e.r. visits more readily than if you went to a g.p. as they assume that you really need medical care if you are going to an e.r. and it is not for something un-necessary

Answer 3

We have GPs, but you have to make appointments in advance... not many doctors' schedules allow for walk-in appointments. Plus, they work specific hours during the day -- if you are injured at night, or get sick and need treatment quickly, you'll generally have to go either to an urgent care facility or an emergency room.

ERs are definitely far more expensive than GPs.

Answer 4

Instead of GP's we have an array of family physicians, pediatricians in general pediatric practice as opposed to consultant status and general internists for adults. There are even programs training doctors in both pediatrics and internal medicine. The reason you see all those posts is twofold: first, it's often difficult to get an appointment with one's physician, and second, Americans are crazy. We have no patience and we worry about the most trivial of things. We had a system vaguely similar to yours in the 1940's to the 1960's, but our collective personality was much more like yours in those days.