Hospitals want to take away access to Emergency Care

This article starts out with the undeniable fact that uninsured people seek care in emergency rooms, which is ridiculously expensive and drives up the overall cost of care.

So what's their solution? Repeal EMTALA, the federal law which requires emergency rooms to evaluate anyone who comes in their doors, regardless of ability to pay.
... And that would leave the uninsured with WHERE to go? Oh, yeah - NOWHERE.

I hear doctors and hospitals complaining about EMTALA and uninsured people going the emergency room all the time. They're right - it's a problem.
But the ROOT of the problem is that there is nowhere ELSE for uninsured to go. NO doctor will take them. NO "urgent care" center will take them. If you cut out the ER, there's nothing.
The ONLY solution is to give the uninsured somewhere else to go to get care. Then they won't choose to go to the ER - who would choose a 4-hour wait surrounded by dying gunshot wound victims and screaming schizophrenics if you have a choice (OK, maybe my local San Francisco General Hospital ER is a little more exciting than most...)

Yes, I realize some insured folks go to ER too unnecessarily. The article mentions "earaches". So here's a scenario: your kid gets an earache on Friday at 5. Your doctor's office won't even take your call until Monday, and then they tell you there are no appointments until Wednesday (at the earliest). So you are supposed to let your kid stay in excrutiating pain for FIVE DAYS, possibly damaging his hearing for life? Really, doctors - tell me, what do you suggest?
BY THE WAY, when we call our doctor's "on call nurse" in this situation, she TELLS us to go to the ER - EVERY TIME.
I'd like the hospital folks to tell us what our options are if not the ER.