The increase is believed to be the result of supply and demand: more people arriving at ERs and fewer ERs available.
Overall, 119 million visits were made to the ER in 2006. That's up from 90 million in 1996.
Americans making more ER trips, waiting longer
If you had to make a trip to the emergency room this year, chances are you had to wait almost an hour to see someone.
The average time that hospital ER patients wait to see a doctor has grown from about 38 minutes to almost 1 hour over the past decade, according to new federal statistics just released.
