re: How Do We Fix American Healthcare?

Been to an emergency room lately? I have. My wife has a narrowing of her esophagus. Sometimes food will stick there but only for a couple of minutes. This time it wasn't moving. After 5 hours in the ER we were told to wait for the food(chicken) to go down and if it didn't after 6 hours to come back and she would be admitted and the surgeon would scope and clear the obstruction. So we went back at 9am. At 7pm they finally got her to the OR.
Now from 1230am until 7pm, my wife couldn't eat or drink. They gave her 2 bags of fluid to keep her hydrated. Obstruction was gone but the bullshite about waiting happens here too. Had her airway been involved she would have been admitted right away. The dr. told me that unless a situation is acute then some kind of wait is normal.