The Waiting Is the Cost

The entrance of a medical clinic at night, a red neon “Medical Clinic” sign above lit glass doors.

We count what care costs the system.
We rarely count what waiting costs the person:

  • the hours
  • the lost sleep
  • the held breath beside a phone that doesn’t ring

A wait is not empty time. It has weight.

It fills kitchens at midnight and corridors at noon, and it is paid in full by people with nothing left to bargain with.

Still, there is something in how we queue, together and patient, believing the line will move. That patient faith is a national resource too.

It deserves a real answer, measured not in budgets, but in hours quietly given back.

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