Most of the problems in the health care are non-urgent.
Most of people at the ER are not there "waking up and not knowing why they are in the ER". They walk into ER with something not working for them. That's exactly why it takes 3-4 hours to be seen by the ER doctor.
People like you, who wake up in the ER, are rarities. Those people are either brought to the ER in ambulances or are triaged and seen immediately. It is for those cases one could justify the costs of an ambulance ride and 500% markup of an bandage.
I do not agree that most visitors to the ER do so for non-urgent reasons, although few complaints are so severe. I don't think you've fully grasped the point people are trying to communicate to you here.
Sibling commenter is correct. The majority of ER visits are actually not emergencies; rather they are frequently used/abused as a convenience (open 24/7) or because payment is not required prior to care due to the unfunded mandate that is EMTALA (debt collectors are a separate discussion).
Green triage means that there were no reason for the patient to be in the ER. With the over-triage, green is still over 70%.
So lets presume that between red and yellows it is actually 30% and none of them are triaged up ( based on the article that I linked it seems triaged up red is high single digit which is in the same ballpark that my friends who are in emergency medicine rotation say ). Those would be the only cases where one cannot pick a non-crazy expensive service ( in fact only reds cannot, and yellow probably can which is why their service is delayed ).
So at least 70% pay 7-10x because they showed up in ER rather than in a walk in center/doctors office.
Not to be argumentative, but the stats may not be as descriptive as it might seem. I've seen kids in ER because they put popcorn in their ear and you can definitely say that they should be at the doctor's office. On the other hand, one day in the middle of the night my blood pressure spiked to 230. My heart was racing. I had no idea what was going on. I phoned the hospital and they suggested going to the ER. I did. They took an EKG and everything was normal. Diagnosis: panic attack (which I think was brought on by my previous blood pressure medicine). Doctor gave me a sedative and told me to go see my doctor the next day. I'd be in that green triage, but you don't know until after you are triaged. That's the problem.
Ironically, the next time it happened, I waited all night then went to the doctor. He sent me to the ER, who sent me right back home again. Another time, I had a friend who I suspected might be falling into a psychotic episode. They were acting a bit strange and it worried me. I got them to the ER and boy am I glad that we went. Probably saved a call to the police.
It's these kinds of things where you just don't know that are the most worrying and now that I have some experience with it, I have a much better idea of why some people park in the ER. If you've never experienced, then I am incredibly happy for you because it really sucks.
Of course I don't know that this is where a lot of these cases come from, but in my limited experience this is what I've seen. I think we need some other kind of place you can go that can triage effectively when you are worried and don't know what to do. When I was younger, I got sent to the ER because I had obviously broken my hand. That's a waste of resources. There are better places I could have gone, but if you don't know, then you don't know.
I appreciate your point but I do not think it contradicts the numbers - going to ER and getting a green triage means that the triage personnel determined that it is not an emergency.
According to 2013 National Institute of Health study put the median cost of ER visit at $1,233. In 2015 there was over 130M ER visits. Lets arbitrary assign the cost of interacting with the Triage nurse at the ER to $233 ( which is insane lets do it anyway), then the pool of cost overtriage 130M * $1000 which is $130B. Of those even triaged up 70% is a green triage, which makes it $91B.
If we are to make an assumption that for non-emergencies addressed by ER cost only twice as much non ER then simply by sending people to a regular doctor after people are getting a green triage one realizes savings of $91B/2 = $45.5B
Most of people at the ER are not there "waking up and not knowing why they are in the ER". They walk into ER with something not working for them. That's exactly why it takes 3-4 hours to be seen by the ER doctor.
People like you, who wake up in the ER, are rarities. Those people are either brought to the ER in ambulances or are triaged and seen immediately. It is for those cases one could justify the costs of an ambulance ride and 500% markup of an bandage.