Until they're bankrupted.
A couple of years ago I was sick with some funky stomach flu and had a fever of 104+ that would not come down no matter how much Tylenol and cold water baths I took. After about 15 hours of fighting the nonstop fever and an inability to focus or see straight, my roommate decided to take me to the ER at 11pm I had to wait 6 hours because the place was loaded with people. The triage nurse told my roommate they are always jam packed with nonemergency cases. The nurse did her best to get me in fast and get some IVs in me (I was also dehydrated from inability to keep anything in me), but I swear if I spoke Spanish and needed a translator I would have gotten in faster. My insurance that I had at the time covered most of it, but I still had a good-sized bill. I wonder how much though I actually paid via my tax dollars for all those there who didn't have insurance and were not in the country legally.