Day after day, hour after hour, Americans are spoon-fed some utopian vision of a future of Medicare-for-all (anyone really who can make it across the border) as the solution to all that ails the health system across all states.

However, for anyone who has actually lived under nationalized healthcare, reality is far uglier.

As Statista's Martin Armstrong notes, a new survey of 901 GPs in England by industry publication Pulse has revealed average waiting times for routine appointments to have risen over two weeks for the first time. As our infographic shows, the average wait in 2016 was 12.8 days and has risen since then to 14.8 days in 2019.

You will find more infographics at Statista

The research also revealed that 22 percent of GPs said their patients had to wait for more than three weeks. As Pulse reports, the demand for GPs has been rising in recent years, while the number of GPs has fallen.

One GP who recorded a four to five week waiting list said:

"Our list size continues to grow because there are so many housing developments. We are poorly remunerated under the GMS contract for the hard work that we do. Patient demand continues to soar with higher expectations despite dreadful government funding. MPs have a lot to answer for."

Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said:

"The College has long been raising the alarm about escalating resource and workforce pressures in general practice, and the negative impact this is having on our patients. GPs and our teams are making more consultations than ever before – more than a million a day across the UK – but as our population grows and more people present with multiple conditions, we desperately need more GPs and more time to give our patients the care they deserve."

Dear Democrat, how long did you have to wait - just to see the doctor - the last time you fell ill?