Longer waits and shorter appointments: How health 'shrinkflation' is changing YOUR hospital visits

Millions of Americans are left waiting months to get crucial care because of 'healthcare shrinkflation,' according to new reports.

This economic phenomenon - when the size of a product has shrunk while prices stay the same or rise - has caused fewer and fewer doctors appointments to be available while the number of patients rises, making wait times double in parts of the nation to as long as 22 days. 

Healthcare is just the latest industry to be hit with inflation - Americans are dealing with prices rising from the grocery store to the gas pump. 

Health shrinkflation can be caused by a combination factors, but top contributors include a mass exodus of doctors since the pandemic, an increase in the number of people seeking care and changes in national insurance policies, which cover fewer health services. 

Dr Robert Pearl, a Stanford University professor and former CEO of The Permanente Medical Group, told Axios: 'You're paying actually more for your health coverage, but you're not getting more. You're actually getting less'. 

The average wait time for doctor appointments in 2022 in 15 cities across the US was 26 days - up from 24 days in 2017, according to a report from AMN Healthcare and Merritt Hawkins. 

In certain cities, like New York, the average wait time for a primary care appointment doubled in the past year - going from 11 days in 2023 to 22 days in 2024.

A 2024 Axios survey found one in five Americans said they had to wait more than two months to see a primary care physician. 

And 43 percent of patients say they've had to wait longer to see a doctor since the pandemic. 

One of the largest contributors to this is the fact that in most areas, more patients than ever are seeking routine healthcare appointments since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Across the US, 20 percent of adults reported not getting medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic. The backlog that was created from that period is still rebounding, sending more people back to doctors offices, according to KFF Health System Tracker. 

In New York, 50,000 new patients have been added to the NYC Health + Hospitals organization - a group that includes all the city's pubic hospitals - since 2021. 

This has led leaders at the organization to urge doctors to cut their in-person appointment times in half in order to push through more patients, Gothamist reported. 

Another major contributor - a healthcare worker shortage.

Tens of thousands of doctors left the healthcare workforce because of pandemic burnout. An estimated 117,000 physicians left their job between 2020 and 2021 - as did countless staff like nurses, technicians and social workers who help the hospital run. 

Heading into 2020, there was already a shortage of healthcare workers across all specialties, but reports found overall departures from the industry increased. 

In 2018, about six percent of all healthcare workers left the workforce, but in 2020, about eight percent left - many of whom left the job without another position lined up, suggesting job dissatisfaction, a 2024 report from Johns Hopkins and Harvard found. 

Studies from the American Association of Medical Colleges estimate that by 2034, America could be short 48,000 doctors. 

In addition to personnel problems, insurance companies have decreased the amount of services they cover in their plans. 

This increases out-of-pocket costs for doctors visits that used to be covered, according to State Representative Steven Smith, the deputy speaker of the New Hampshire house. 

About 30 percent of adults with insurance still had problems paying medical bills, according to a 2019 survey from the Commonwealth Fund. Fifty seven percent of those surveyed said their out-of-pocket insurance costs took up more than 10 percent of their household budget. 

'Instead of promoting smarter decisions, these plans have made care so expensive that many patients avoid getting the medical assistance they need,' Dr Pearl said. 

For people who can afford it, turning to private hospitals and clinics has been a solution. Others have turned to urgent care centers, which are rapidly expanding, instead of going to a primary care doctor. 

But this ignores the large amount of Americans who rely on public systems, like NYC Health + Hospitals, Dr Pearl added. 

This creates, 'a vicious cycle, where each year the demand grows and the care becomes skimpier. As a result of that, the demand grows even faster.'