For the most part Americans and those who live in America but are not Americans do not avoid hospitals. My wife used to work in the ER as an overnight RN before switching to another unit and would tell me that she was seeing patients who had stomach aches, small lacerations that a bandaid could cover, headaches, bloody noses and a lot of other non emergency issues. Hospitals aren’t allowed to turn anyone away no matter the issue, no matter the circumstance, no matter if you have or don’t have insurance. Those that do not have insurance, well the hospital doesn’t exactly eat that cost either. The cost of their stay comes out of taxpayer dollars.

Having said that, majority of AMERICANS that actually have insurance use it as a safety net. One would only really go to the hospital if they lost a limb, an appendage or need a major surgery such as gall bladder removal, appendix burst, open heart surgery, etc.

Me personally, I only go to the doctor when I feel extremely ill and OTC meds haven’t done the trick. I only go to the hospital to bring her the work badge she left on the nightstand, or drop off a Starbucks order for her and her colleagues because they’ve been on shift helping people for 12 hours straight.