I live in U.S. and know people on ACA Marketplace plans, employer HDHP, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare Advantage, people who are uninsured, people who are overinsured, and people who have crazy expensive fly-me-out-of-the-jungle emergency plans (one who actually used it in the U.S.).

I have never heard any of them get an MRI or CT scan same day "just in case." And for the one who got an MRI close to same day for stroke symptoms, it wasn't free. (And even in that case, the earliest appointment with the specialist to assess the MRI was nearly a month later.)

Someone getting their first colonoscopy had an appointment two months out.

Someone getting shoulder surgery four months out.

A person on Medicaid with Stage 4 cancer waiting a week and a half for a fentanyl patch because the pharmacy couldn't get approval from the Medicaid subcontractor for whatever reason.

People from the U.S. who post on HN: please tell HN which is more common:

* my stories

* your parents getting free MRIs and CT scans "just in case"