It varies a lot depending on your city, the time of day, and how busy they are through sheer coincidence. Hospital ERs triage, determining who needs to be seen first, regardless of when they arrived, so a painful injury which is not life-threatening can mean a long wait.
As more and more Americans have no health insurance coverage and clinics are overwhelmed and underfunded (and in many places, nonexistent), too many people have no option for basic health care except the ER. You know your baby's ear infection needs antibiotics, or that your son will be fine once he gets three or four stitches, yet no doctor will see you unless you can pay in full at the time of service. They've been burned too many times by patients who intend to pay, promise they will, then can't or don't. Most fear an avalanche of non-paying patients if they accept very many; uninsured patients can bankrupt a practice.
If you can't pay a private physician, the ER is all you've got. In the last three cities I lived in, basic non-emergency medical needs were what crowded the ERs, not other emergencies. Kids with sore throats, a drunks with a black eye, or a woman with an itchy rash does not need an ER, but had nowhere else to turn.
My own longest wait was under a half hour--but we started with our regular doctor, who sent us to the ER when certain lab results came in indicating that we did indeed have an emergency.
Maryn, whose emergency is all better
