If anybody wants to see "socialized medicine" up front and real, just go to the VA and look around. I have waited as much as four hours past my appointment time just to be "seen" and even then, the care was less than satisfactory.
Been there done that, although I WILL say this. When I lived in Nashville, the VA was pretty good, wait times were normal for any Doctors office and if there was something they could not do on site, they would send you to Vanderbilt for the procedures.
Now, the VA in Dayton, Ohio is a nightmare and unless I am ordered to go there I will NEVER step foot back in that hellhole EVER!!!!!
I reinjured a service connected injury (blown knee) and my gf at the time (now wife) insisted that she take me to the Dayton VA because "they will take care of you, your a veteran". I eventually got an appt to see the ortho doc, they sent me for an MRI, said nothing was wrong and when I mentioned something about the pain I was in the doc said "I am a surgeon I dont deal with pain management". My wife went thru the roof after we left and I told her that I tried to tell her it was a waste of time and gas to go there. To make a long story short, I had a MRI done by the local ortho docs, they found some more damage, did some more surgery and fixed it. I went to the local VA rep and applied for temp 100% and got it.