Anyone who wants to know how Obastardcare is going to play out need only watch the slow-motion disaster unfolding in Mass. It ain't pretty.
Posted on 07/02/2010 4:46:39 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW
CHICAGO (AP) - Emergency rooms, the only choice for patients who can't find care elsewhere, may grow even more crowded with longer wait times under the nation's new health law.
That might come as a surprise to those who thought getting 32 million more people covered by health insurance would ease ER crowding. It would seem these patients would be able to get routine health care by visiting a doctor's office, as most of the insured do.
But it's not that simple. Consider:
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...
It also says:
Kellermann and other experts point to Massachusetts, the model for federal health overhaul where a 2006 law requires insurance for almost everyone. Reports from the state find ER visits continuing to rise since the law passed - contrary to hopes of its backers who reasoned that expanding coverage would give many people access to doctors offices.
Like they didn't know this?
Rest assured they do not understand anything about the free market.
When something isn’t working to their way of thinking they regulate it until it does - when it still doesn’t thats when Hell starts to break loose
Like in Greece or American inner cities...
we alread have longer ER waits...how about no doctors or anything because a bunch of thugs we sent to DC are living the life style of the rich and famous so could care less if the people of this nation lives or dies..pure and simple they are re establishing slavery.
The whole thing is obviously chaos on wheels.
Freepers knew this but apparently the AP didn’t.
"Just because we've insured people doesn't mean they now have access," said Dr. Elijah Berg, a Boston area ER doctor.
Who would have guessed that when you offer something for “free,” you increase the demand? You have to wonder what parallel universe AP occupies.
LOL!!
MAY? Let me guess...this also is “unexpected” by these dufuses?!!
Does Obamacare do anything to increase the supply of services? No. Does it do anything to increase the demand? Yes. Conclusion: cost of healthcare goes up.
Of course it’s a surprise. Name a lefty that knows actions have consequences. It won’t be anybody in the MSM.
bookmark
If it was up to me, I'd have the citizenship and residency status verified for everyone who uses the ER without a means to pay for it. We could then have ICE agents on hand to arrest any illegal trying to make use of the facility on our dime.
If you really want to be humanitarian, you could do this check after care has been administered to a patient who is truly in need of emergency care.
The article points out that a lot of medicaid people use the ER because doctors limit the number of patients they will accept because of low reimbursement. And that’s true. In 1990, an office visit reimbursement was $9. I don’t know what it is now.
Can't blame the doctors for that one. They didn't go into debt hundreds of thousands of dollars just to be paid less than minimum wage. Sadly the only way to remedy this problem is to revert back to the high deductible health insurance model and have patients pay doctors with cash.
That being said though, there really should be a way to deliver reasonably good health care to people of lesser means. Can medical students who are reasonably qualified be paid to provide basic health care to people?
I certainly don't. There was a local surgeon, excellent man, who took more than his share. Unfortunately he took a position at a teaching hospital and left. He treated those that needed care. Just a nice, nice man.
Can medical students who are reasonably qualified be paid to provide basic health care to people?
In a town near me, they had a pilot program where dental students gave low cost care. Anything beyond their skill/knowledge was referred to a regular dentist. It worked but for some reason they quit the program. Probably because it worked.
Missed this.
As a kid in the 50's, we had insurance and we didn't have a lot of money. We did pay doctors cash. Insurance was for hospital stays. And we could afford insurance. This was before Medicare took a large paying block out of the insurance pool. THAT made premiums rise because the old folks were getting tests , mostly unnecessary, for "free". THAT made costs rise and insurance rates too. So the government helped more and Dead Ted created HMO's. It was government "help" that ruined healthcare.
Yep. Wait till the docs have enough of Obamacare under payments and retire....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.