Opinion: Doctors' offices jammed during healthcare's seasonal spike

What's it take to see a doctor in December? The week after Thanksgiving, I came down with flulike symptoms and called my doctor's clinic at 8 a.m. The answering service said to call back in 10 minutes, when the staff would be settled in. At 8:09, I was told every appointment was taken until noon the next day. I went to an urgent care center, as advised, but it had no flu tests and the X-ray machine was down. The next urgent center had a three-hour wait, and the receptionist said to go home and wait for them to text me.