I have heard emergency room traffic is down 50%. A friend is an emergency room nurse at a large county hospital here, and she confirms same. So much so - they are looking at laying off nurses and staff!!
I asked: "How could there be a decline in heart attacks, car accidents, slips and falls, etc…?" She said a lot of emergency room visits in their place were never necessary in the first place.
Emergency rooms here are used like doctor’s offices and they are always packed. Got a sniffle? Emergency room. Last time I was in one (wound up there by mistake because it used to have an urgent care attached) I looked around and maybe 3 people actually should have been there. But there was nowhere to sit. They were hitting the vending machines and running in and out smoking. I left. A few days later someone from the hospital called me and asked why. I told him I didn’t realize they had closed the urgent care section and was there 1/2 hour without even being called while standing up puking in a bag the security guy handed me. So I left and went down the road to the urgent care where I was in and out in about 45 minutes. He said...yeah, it’s always like that.
A lot of people on public assistance use the ER as their PCP.
When they get a sore throat or cold and want to see a dr, they call 911, get a free (for them) ambulance ride and ER visit.
Taxpayers are paying for this.
This was common practice in a welfare town we lived in and the ER nurses verified it.