***common practice of people without health plans using the emergency room as their first stop after not seeing a doctor all year ***
That was happening long before Obamacare. We took our adult daughter to the emergency room due to possible pneumonia infection. It was empty except for us. We still had to wait for a doctor. As we waited, a few more showed up and within two hours the Emergency room was packed with people, many with minor problems getting care that many would never pay for.
I remember a long wait at the ER once. Ahead of us was a group of 4 young guys apparently from Pakistan or maybe India. “I was standing next to the car to say goodbye to my buddy and he rolled the car over my foot.” He had a slightly embarrassed look with his eyebrows in an inverted V shape upward as “Hey, what can you do?”
Smart, real smart.
but you are right....people use the ER for their acute problems like diarrhea that they have had for a year or the headache they've had for two years...
oh and they want to be admitted...we used to call it a "positive samsonite" sign....
people use all kinds of tricks...one is to bring your elderly mother in for a workup for constipation/diarrhea that they've had for yrs so you can take off on a mini vacation...happens often just before a summer holiday....truth.