Posted on 01/02/2014 12:28:53 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Supporters of President Obama’s health care law had predicted that expanding insurance coverage for the poor would reduce costly emergency room visits as people sought care from primary care doctors. But a rigorous new study conducted in Oregon has flipped that assumption on its head, finding that the newly insured actually went to the emergency room more often.
The study, published in the journal Science, compared thousands of low-income people in the Portland area who were randomly selected in a 2008 lottery to get Medicaid coverage with people who entered the lottery but remained uninsured. Those who gained coverage made 40 percent more visits to the emergency room than their uninsured counterparts. The pattern was so strong that it held true across most demographic groups, times of day, and types of visits, including for conditions that were treatable in primary care settings.
The finding casts doubt on the hope that expanded insurance coverage will help rein in rising emergency room costs just as more than two million people are gaining coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Not too long ago, WBill Jr. fell and put a good-sized gouge in his head. Nothing life threatening, but it was messy and definitely needed stitches. Since the only Urgent Care in the area was closed, off to the ER we went.
The doc (actually, a nurse and a PA) did good work. Very little scarring, which isn't all that critical when it comes to boys, anyway.
However, in the several hours I spent in the ER, I paid attention to who all was there. IMO, my kid was the only one who belonged - the only "emergency" involving the ABC's (airway,breathing, circulation) - and we were only there because the ER was the only local option.
There were a couple of dozen people there. Lots and lots of broken English being spoken; made me wonder if I was covering their visits, too. Most of the patients were suffering from an array of earaches, sore throats, and sniffles. The older lady next to me was complaining of heart pains..."Hmmm", I thought, "Someone who OUGHT to be here.......".
The doc then asked how long she'd been having them. "Three days." Nevermind.
So the government can import doctors form Cuba to work in the ER on non-emergent cases. As long as the patient is not critical, the ER can pass the buck. The diagnosis and treatment of chronic disease is not a part of emergency care.
They will get the illusion of good care and don’t forget the vaccines.
Or they can double the co-pay for non emergency care received in an emergency unit and take it out of their EIC tax refund at the end of the year if left unpaid.
That just about sums it up. I will say that he has decimated and destroyed the happiness of the hard working middle class.
But that has always been the plan, I guess. Have you noticed that those who are paying the price are hard working families, seniors like my parents, and military? The milennials kind of deserve the misery that they voted for.
The hits keep on coming.
This has to be stopped somehow.
My policy got cancelled by His Majesty and I don't plan on replacing it.
If the penalties get too tough, I'll just quit filing tax returns.
Screw 'em.
Just look at Canada’s hospital rooms. They’re packed, and heaven forbid if you have something seriously wrong with you, you can die waiting.
I believe hospitals will be turning people away if they can’t pay their deductibles. When people didn’t have insurance hospitals were required to treat everyone. I’m betting they don’t think that’s the case now.
There’s already a report of an ER in VA turning people away who couldn’t prove they had insurace.
Where else can a Medicaid patient go but to the ER if no doctors will see him?
Too, more insured people means more people going to the doctor, yet the number of doctors is declining. Again, sick people will have no other choice but the ER.
The New York Times reputation as a lying bunch of lying liars is now such, that if you see the date on their masthead, go compare it to your calendar.
It depends where you are. In our small town, I can’t complain.
Y’think? Moron.
That's exactly right. The idea that preventative medicine will substantially reduce ER visits is incorrect, as would be evident to most who actually practice medicine, as opposed to the policy wonks that formulated Obamacare. The irony is that ERs already treat the uninsured when they present with a real medical emergency.
This is what my last three ER visits were like and for the same medical condition.
April 2010 - 1st trip- I had started getting sick on Wednesday and my sister took me to the ER Saturday night. I sat in the waiting room for 3 hours before going to a room. The tech came in and said he knew what that is (cellulitis) and after entering some info in he asked what room I liked. He knew I should have been admitted to the hospital at that point. Three hours later the doctor came in, spent less than five minutes in there and didn’t really bother to look at me or even ask questions. Got sent home with a prescription for an antibiotic and a painkiller. Oh yeah the doctor gave me a print out that said at what point going into the hospital was likely. I was already past that point.
Thursday afternoon my mom says she is taking me back to the ER. It was about 1 when we got there and I was in a hospital bed by 5. Spent 1 week in there and it should have been a few more days. Took me months to heal enough that I no longer had an open wound. My leg is still messed up and takes forever to heal any wounds. A cat scratch took over 9 months. I fell in March of 2012 and you can still tell where the cuts were.
The two ER trips , the doctors, the tests, the hospital stay itself and the wound care nurse I had to go to a few times after I got out cost over 30K. The doctor in the hospital that came in to see me had never seen anything like my case. He took pics on his phone and sent to a friend in the CDC. I was actually in isolation until they could run tests.
Look up cellulitis pictures and the worst ones you find will probably look like my leg. I won’t even get into what the poor wound care nurse had to deal with. She had never seen anything like it before either. She took pics but said she wished she had taken some before she started to work. I think the young girl helping her actually gagged. lol
October 2010 - again cellulitis. Happened on a Sunday. My mom took me to the ER that night, got an IV antibiotic, a prescription for more and the name of a doctor, then sent home. Called and got an appointment Monday and was in there just long enough for them to take my temp and ask a few questions before sending me to the hospital. I was there 2 weeks. I never saw a bill but would guess it was at least 50K.
The difference? I applied for and got Medicaid (and food stamps) in June. Since that second hospital visit I have probably had two more health problems that I could have gone to the ER but I didn’t. I plan to avoid the ER if I can. There are sick and crazy people in those waiting rooms. I don’t want to pick up other people’s germs. I saw people coughing and sneezing with no attempt to cover and then touching all surfaces. Even sick as hell I was grossed out.
I go to my doctors on a regular basis but I don’t go for every little cold. I am trying to get my medical conditions treated and under control so I can live a some what normal life.
and then there those who just want narcotics....they know exactly what to say....they know exactly what to say they're "allergic" to....mostly all over the counter meds like aleve, motrin etc...none of that stuff for them nosireee....and, they'd prefer dilaudid, and make it quick....and give them a dose of phenergan iv and then bendadryl iv because all three give them some kind of high.....
No. As this trend continues, ER.visits, triaged for urgency, will be days long for things like ear infections.
And ERs will run out of funding. It is not free health care. Someone is paying or giving free services, and that will not continue for too long
Whoever inherits this mess will either stop printing Monopoly money and fix the problem or they’ll continue throwing government ( political) money at it, devaluing all of it
But access to health care requires doctors Anyone reporting on the collapse of enrollment index schools?
Actually, Medicaid will pay something as opposed to what ER’s normally get from the deadbeat class. I’ve worked in an ER. They delay treatment for non-ER cases unless they arrive in an ambulance.
BTW ambulance rides are free for Medicaid patients.
Ambulance rides are not free. Somebody is paying about $1G. If its Medicaid, then its the taxpayer.
EMS staffers are not offering free service They get paid. The idea that government funded care is free is what got us into this mess. I had to pay $100 out of pocket yesterday for eczema medication
Why is that? Medical equipment, services, medication and testing costs have soared over the last 40 years as people have pretended government money grows on trees
When people figure out they’ll get treated past triage by rising in an ambulance the way the New Yorkers did about 40 years ago, they’ll take that route, much like twice as many signed up for Medicaid than they did obamacare
But none of it is free. And the system will crash or some foreign entity will call our bluff on the value of out tree money and crash it first
Trust me. For a Medicaid person, it is free. Who pays for it is irrelevant to them.
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