[analog31]

In my view "emergency room" is a red herring. I once went to an ER for something. My first interaction was at a window where a worker asked me what was up, then pointed me down the hall to a facility that looked like and was just a regular urgent care clinic.

Medical care is anything if not statistical. If an ER is receiving non-emergency patients, they know it, and can design their care processes to handle those patients efficiently.

If they're billing patients $5k for a bandage, it's solely a financial boondoggle. There is also a political aspect -- blaming poor people for "wasting" care by making unnecessary use of the ER.