It's not even just a mtter of not being able to pay that people go to ER for a cold.

This happens back home ALL the time and healthcare is "free".

You can walk into the ER at just about anytime and the waiting room will be full of people with the sniffles. I do NOT understand why they would rather go to the ER than go to a walk in clinic because you wait MUCH longer at the ER than you would at a walk in clinic.

I remember one time I went to the ER after my Dr diagnosed me with "tonsilitis" and gave me penicillan. After I started taking it I got worse and worse and my throat was just covered in white... like strep. My throat was so sore and so swollen that it actually got hard for me to breathe. Well my dad freaked out and thought I was having an allergic reaction and rushed me to ER.

I was there for over 12 hours. Turned out I had Mono. Nice catch by my Dr... NOT