I hear you. I got three stitches back in February. It wasn't an emergency, and I didn't want to go but thought it might be a big deal since it was on my hand. I called around to the clinics at grocery stores and they all said they'd just send me to the emergency room. I went and it ended up costing me over f'ing $6,000!

One of my life coaches pointed out that I could have flown first class to Panama gotten the stitches and flown back for less. Health "insurance" in this country is completely fucked and has been for a long time. Now I'm angry about that all over again.