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ER physicians are NOT primary care doctors and should prescribe only meds to treat acute ailments.

Tell that to the millions of people who see the ER as a walk in clinic that *never* closes and that *must* see you and who get most,if not all,of their health care there.I saw exactly that over a 20 year career in hospital ER's.

I have noticed the big signs in spanish at the local ER that pretty much says all are welcome, payment optional.

Tell that to the millions of people who see the ER as a walk in clinic that *never* closes and that *must* see you and who get most,if not all,of their health care there.I saw exactly that over a 20 year career in hospital ER's.

I agree with you that way too many people abuse ER’s in that manner. But with that being said and the other side of the coin, I and people I know have had experiences where we’ve been very sick with bronchitis and or a sinus infection or pneumonia and called our doctor’s office to make an appointment, describing just how ill we are and been told “Sure, we can see you – the earliest appointment is a week from tomorrow.” When telling them “I can’t wait that long”, I have been told, “You should go to the ER then”. Or some are sick during a weekend or a long holiday weekend when the regular doctor’s office is closed.

Some hospitals now run Urgent Care walk-in clinics that are separate from the ER and don’t take ambulances and life threatening cases and they are great for those situations when you can’t get in to see your regular doc but aren’t “critical” and they typically aren’t billed like an ER visit. There are also privately run Urgent Care clinics that fill that need but they require either insurance (if they are even part of your insurance company’s plan, when I was working for a company in Maryland but living in PA, my insurance plan didn’t cover a lot of doctors or walk-in clinics in PA but did cover ER visits) or cash payment up front.

But unless I have absolutely no other choice and can't wait a week or more to see my PCP, I avoid hospital ER’s like the plague.

Tell that to the millions of people who see the ER as a walk in clinic that *never* closes and that *must* see you...

'Those' sort clogged the ER at one small hospital I worked at several years ago. Admin opened a triage area for the hang nail crowd and offered only the bare minimum of service. After a few months, it made a big difference in the work load as the regulars realized they weren't going to get a script. I'm sure some federal agency would have frowned on it.