Posted on 05/05/2015 3:14:08 PM PDT by lowbridge
Doctors say emergency room visits have increased since the advent of Obamacare, undercutting one of the key selling points of President Obama’s health care law, which was supposed to ensure a healthier population by pushing consumers to rely on their primary physicians rather than emergency trips to the hospital.
Three out of four ER doctors said they have seen a rise in the number of patients since January 2014, when Obamacare fully kicked in, according to a survey conducted by the American College of Emergency Physicians. More than a quarter of the doctors said they have seen a major surge, and 47 percent said the rise has been slight.
The doctors said they fear a spike in visits could overwhelm their resources: Seven out of 10 said their departments aren’t prepared for a significant increase in patient volume.
The biggest cause is a lack of primary care doctors to treat the increased number of patients with health care coverage, so the patients are turning to the emergency room instead — exactly what wasn’t supposed to happen.
“Just because people have health insurance does not mean they have access to timely medical care,” said Michael Gerardi, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Grubering.
Up despite all the Grubering.
Once again people are learning that it’s not about “affordable health care”. It’s about “affordable health insurance”. And all insurance policies ain’t equal.
That ends up being the default place people go to when they can’t hook up with a doctor.
The doctor supply side is the one thing the Obamacare architects can’t control for love nor money. The plan sucks, the doctors have to eat too, so they switch careers. Good time to be a veterinarian.
Everything the government bureaucracy touches, they destroy.
Yes...since there are more illegals in the country since Obamacare implemented.
Who was it that said if the government took over the Sahara Desert, it would soon be short of sand?
You can request an FOIA of your state to for number of ER visits by Medicaid recipients by month, or year and by country or other demograpic. Then ask it be split by those who had Medicaid in the previous year to the year measured and those who did not have Medicaid in the previous year and are new to Medicaid...and of course the total on Medicaid each time period. (There might be Medicaid policies/accounts with multiple lives per account. Know what you’re measuring.)
Just for fun, ask for the number of immigrants and citizens covered by Medicaid...and visited ER.
Then how about non-ER? In-patient, out-patient, doctor/professional visited and drugs dispensed... by count and dollar amount.
See any patterns?
In the past 2 months, I've had occasion to go to the E.R. at 2 two different hospitals. I was taken by ambulance each time and believe I was given some priority.
Unconscious the first trip but the other two times I noticed full waiting rooms. This is not a big city either (population about 35,000), nor is it a black city either. I didn't notice one black person either time.
People use the E.R. as their primary care physician. Got a cold or head ache? Go to the E.R. No money, even for co pays? Got to the E.R. They can't turn you away like a primary care giver can if you don't pay your bills.
I don't pretend to know the answer but I'm 100% convinced, it ain't obamacare.
When I was at the ER earlier this year, I got hit up for a co-pay while on pain killers.
Palmetto Health has 0 problems sending me bills, essentially nickel and diming me.They are paid off I think. It’s been a month since I got some kind of bill.
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