Since moving here a year ago, I have seen an almost constant series of threads complaining about the emergency room -NOT the surgical/post surgical/illness part of the hospital. This caused me to do some research, as my husband and I both have had need of an ER in the past. Note that I had a knee replacement done at The Villages Hospital. Super experience, totally separate from the ER.
As I write this, the "average" wait time at Ocala ER is 3 minutes to see a medical practitioner (
About | Ocala Health | Ocala, FL), Leesburg is 7 minutes wait time and Villages Hospital is 23 minutes (
Central Florida Health | Leesburg, Florida). If my spouse is having a heart attack or has a bone protruding from his skin, I'd let the ambulance take him to the closest ER. However, if we were in pain but could hold off treatment for a bit, I am leaning toward going to Ocala (30 minute drive) due not only to probable shorter wait times, but general attitude/professionalism that I seem to be picking up from local comments. Before we moved it took about 20 minutes to get to an ER, so it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to go to Ocala.
I think it is prudent to at least have a plan in place. Everyone is different. This is just my plan.