I cracked a vertebra a couple months ago and found myself in the emergency room. Needless to say I was in alot of pain.
I sat waiting in what looked like the Martinez family reunion just because little Juan or Jose had a sniffle.
“No we no go to Walgreens and buy Nyquil... we go to hospital... get it free.”
WBill Jr fell a couple of years ago and split his scalp open. Nasty wound, lots of blood as these things tend to have. No local "Emergicare" places were open, so we wound up in the ER. (Head Injuries are always problematic with small kids, so the hospital was likely the best place to be anyway, but I digress....)
Out of the dozen or so people who were there, I could make an argument that my kid was the only one who likely should have been there. Most were - like you say, the Martinez extended family - with assorted sniffles and sore throats. Older lady next to us was complaining of chest pains, so I kept half a lookout on her, until the doc asked how long the chest pains had been going on.
....her response? "Five days. I just don't want to bother my regular doctor." So, I said nevermind and forgot about her. WBill Jr got stitched up, we all watched him for a few hours to be sure everything was OK (it was) and off we went.
And that was just a slow weekday summer evening, in a small town ER. Multiply by what? Nationwide, a 1000? On a daily basis? And that will give an idea of how broken the system really is. And Obamacare will only increase demand while decreasing supply. Truly, this will be a nightmare.