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| ER Visits Jump As Obamacare Kicks In, Doctors Say |
| 2014-05-21 |
| More people may be visiting hospital emergency departments this year as health benefits from Obamacare went live, according to a survey of physicians published Wednesday. The American College of Emergency Physicians polled more than 1,800 emergency room doctors last month, and 46 percent reported increases in patients coming through their doors since Jan. 1, the day coverage took effect for millions under Obamacare. Twenty-seven percent said the number hadn't changed and 23 percent had seen a decline since Jan. 1. Over the next three years, 86 percent of these doctors believe emergency room use will increase. The survey findings underscore the challenges beyond extending health coverage to more people, including improving access to primary care and changing the habits of patients accustomed to using the emergency room as a one-stop-shop for medical care. One of Obamacare's selling points was its potential to reduce costly emergency room visits for care that could more efficiently be delivered in a doctor's office or other setting, especially for patients who previously were uninsured. Increases in ER visits may provide critics fodder to contend the law isn't fulfilling that promise. "Coverage does not equal access," said Rebecca Parker, an emergency room doctor in Chicago who is on the board of directors at the Irving, Texas-based American College of Emergency Physicians. "Just because you gave somebody Medicaid doesn't mean that there's a place for them to go in terms of a primary care, outpatient facility," she said. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, there will be nearly 30,000 too few primary care physicians in the United States to meet patient demand next year, and that gap will widen in the future as more people gain coverage and the population ages. Patients with and without health insurance seek care from hospital emergency departments for a variety of reasons, including knowledge that hospitals offer a wider array of services than a doctor's office. A federal law dating to 1986 forbids hospitals from turning patients away from emergency rooms regardless of their ability to pay, which attracts individuals who lack the means to afford medical care elsewhere. In addition, emergency departments lure patients who don't have access to a nearby doctor, or when physician offices are closed at night and on weekends. And patients don't have the medical expertise to tell whether symptoms like chest pains mean they're having a heart attack or indigestion. |
| Posted by:Beavis |
| #2 Champ will be "mad as hell" if you die AlanC. Following "mad as hell" he'll send someone to investigate and report on the facts. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-05-21 12:00 |
| #1 Triage. This is where the gate-keepers of the death panels will gain their foothold. See the VA waiting lists. O'care will soon require that gov't. regulators control the way in which, and when, primary care access is doled out. If you have to wait for the diagnosis then you may just die first, no? |
| Posted by: AlanC 2014-05-21 11:57 |