I'm not saying do everything at home for everyone. But if some people did minor things (first aid type stuff) at home, that would free up the system for more important cases. Just think of all the people that fo to the doctor with a cold. A little education could go a long way.

People keep talking about patients going to the doctor for frivolous reasons, but what I see is that it is much more common for patients to ignore symptoms or take some over-the-counter medicine, and take too long to see a doctor.

This, I think, is a natural result of the US insurance system. Being sick is quite expensive and not being sick but being proven to not be sick is also rather expensive so people will naturally tend to avoid formal treatment longer in the hope that everything just magically goes away.

This also contributes to the amount of emergency room treatments that could have been trivially handled with earlier intervention. A boil that has gone septic is a very serious medical condition, but nearly all boils can be trivially resolved with a short regimen of antibiotics.

True, it does go both ways. I would still say it comes down to a lack of education/knowledge either way.