Posted on 01/03/2014 5:16:06 AM PST by tobyhill
Emergency rooms are overcrowded and a new study says many patients could be treated for less at clinics or offices.
Experts say that people who have recently signed up for Medicaid went to the ER 40-percent more than others looking for treatment that could be addressed at doctor's offices or urgent care clinics.
(Excerpt) Read more at whec.com ...
If people do not have proof of insurance, will the ER still see them?
If so and obammacare requires health insurance, why would this happen?
Is the ER will still see them, then why buy health insurance?
Some inner city operations...DC’s hospitals on the eastside for example...will see anyone, period....and just rely upon the city government to cough up money later. This is why most urban towns are in serious political and financial trouble.
In Bama, they will ask about your insurance policy, and the most you get is some marginal help at the emergency room. If you can’t show nothing...other than stopping the bleeding...they won’t do much else. X-rays? Forget it unless you show proof or cough up money. I’ve seen this before and it’s hard to get any commerical medical system to work without cash or proof.
‘They had no idea if my insurance was active or not!’: Obamacare confusion reigns as frustrated patients walk out of hospitals without treatment
MailOnline spoke with patients who were told they would have to pay their bills in full if they couldn’t prove they had insurance
One was faced with a $3,000 hospital room charge and opted to leave the hospital after experiencing chest pains
‘Should I be in the hospital? Probably,’ she said
Another, coughing in the cold, walked out without receiving a needed chest x-ray
Consumers face sticker-shock from medical costs under the new Obamacare system, made worse if they can’t prove they’re insured
As many as one-third of new enrollees’ applications have seen problems when the government transmits them to insurance companies
This is probably also a function of all the doctors’ offices that have opted out of Medicare. Fewer and fewer providers will accept it, so many people have nowhere else to go. Also, I don’t know about Medicare, but regular Obamacare drastically shrinks the geographic coverage area. If it has done the same to Medicare, and there are no offices that accept Medicare within the coverage area, then these people have no choice.
“If people do not have proof of insurance, will the ER still see them?”
I work for a regional hospital: WE ARE REQUIRED TO TREAT ALL PATIENTS WHO COME TO THE ER! Insurance or not. Paper cut or major trauma. You would be amazed how many people come to the EMERGENCY room for non-emergencies (i.e. trivial complaints). Our town has a lot of illegal aliens and others without insurance who use the ER as a routine walk-in clinic...cannot turn anyone away for any reason.
Since doctors’ offices can (for the moment) legally not see certain patients, ERs across the country will be burdened further and further. Many hospitals will go bankrupt. Keep in mind that if an ER turns away a patient, or doesn’t fully treat a patient: AN EXPENSIVE LAWSUIT FOLLOWS!
I live in Massachusetts and there are a lot of people without insurance (even though it is “required”). You cannot make someone buy something not matter how much you legislate it....Obamacare is designed knowing this. Overwhelm and collapse the system into one-payer socialized medicine. The quality of care will start declining quickly.
So, use communism/socialism to overload the system, create a crisis and bankrupt the nation. That will motivate people to demand more communism/socialism.
That makes no sense.
It's true there is no viable solution down this path -- but the way that the politicians intend to "sell" this to the public seems pretty clear to me.
And, of course, once real tyranny is fully in place, you no longer have to "sell" anything or justify anything. The political elite have total control and nothing will touch them short of full revolution. They don't think we have it in us, and so they are pressing forward for the real tyranny as their final solution. They think their power will be locked in.
poor people go to the emergency room for an ear infection. It is their first stop. stupid
It does if the system that eradicated choice, I.e., the market system, remains in place and continues to not allow the market to create options, I.e., totalitarian communism management of health care. No market, no choice.
I think that’s what we’re [hopefully] seeing with Obamacare.
People are at least seeing a bit of a glimmer of the truth that the government can’t and shouldn’t run things like this.
Too many people see “the free market” as one of the “choices”.
The “free market” is simply reality, like gravity.
It exists and will be the default when nothing is artificially propping up something else.
Another Obamacare selling point goes into the toilet.
How many times did we hear, “if more poor people have access to insurance, they won’t clog up the emergency rooms”?
ER's are usually required to treat anyone.
If so and obammacare requires health insurance, why would this happen?
Many millions still do not have insurance. Millions of illegals do not.
If the ER will still see them, then why buy health insurance?
If you have ID and assets or a job, the hospital will pursue you for the debt. Many have gone without insurance or a regular physician and just use the ER when ill.
Calling a Medicaid clinic for an appointment might take a month or longer.
Now that these customers have Medicaid “insurance”, they want service pronto, chop-chop.
The behavior is to be expected, the word of Obama and other libs that O’care would cut the number of ER visits made my head spin when I first heard it.
Years ago (probably 25 or so), I was young and didn’t have a regular doctor, so I went to the ER for a sore throat. The young doctor who treated me couldn’t conceal his annoyance at the fact that I was there for something so trivial, but in those days there weren’t any walk-in clinics like we have today. Those are a godsend.
BTW, I did pay my bill.
apparently some hospitals have stopped providing routine or pecautionary care, like a chest X-Ray for Maria who has a cough. “Treat” may mean see and asess, but not further treat
once the obamacare middle class figures out the cost of paying deductibles and copays, and that a trip to the ER means hundreds or thousands out of pocket, the rush to the ERs will be all or mostly freebie seeking gimmedats
sadly some Americans will die because of their hesitation to seek care due to the new very high costs, a sea change for Americans needing healthcare
Agreed, even when it is in “black market” form.
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