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tazzygirl -> RE: Why not get the Single Payer Health Care System? (7/30/2009 8:22:02 PM)
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ORIGINAL: rulemylife
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ORIGINAL: tazzygirl
Sadly, rule, this part he is right on. ER's have become the primary care for underinsured people, and many insured as well.
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"Uninsured Adults Presenting to U.S. Emergency Departments," which was conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, found several reasons for emergency room overcrowding, including a decreasing number of emergency departments and inpatient hospital beds. But it also concluded that overcrowding is directly tied to the declining number of primary care physicians, said Manya Newton, M.D., M.P.H., an emergency department physician and one of the primary authors of the study.......
....During the past 10 years, ER use has more than doubled in the United States, increasing among the insured and uninsured, said Newton. In fact, the number of ER visits by insured patients has increased in that time from 35 visits per 100 people per year to 39 visits per 100 people annually, according to Newton.
"That doesn't sound like a huge increase, but when you are looking across millions of people in America, that is enough to drive crowding," she said. "One of the reasons that is happening is a lack of access to primary care."
Insured individuals technically have access to primary care physicians, but as these physicians become more overloaded and fewer in number, people are forced to seek care from emergency departments, said Newton.
"There is a decreasing number of primary care physicians, and that is hurting everyone -- the insured and the uninsured," said Newton.
http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/clinical-care-research/20081125jama-er-use.html
I'm not sure how you are drawing that conclusion since even the quotes from your own link say it is not a problem of the uninsured but a shortage of primary care physicians.
One of the first assumptions addressed in the JAMA article is that the uninsured are the major culprits behind ER use and overcrowding, an assumption dispelled by the study. "There are increasing numbers of everybody -- insured and uninsured -- coming to emergency departments," Newton said.
Another common assumption is that the uninsured are showing up in ERs with minor ailments or injuries. In reality, the uninsured tend to postpone care longer than their insured counterparts; as a result, they are sicker by the time they access emergency care, Newton said.
well, rule, i was responding to this particular part of his post
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4. You cant seriously question whether the ER is the source of primary care for the un/under-insured. You do read the newspapers don't you? You do know that at least a dozen emergency rooms and urgent care clinics closed in LA and Texas because they were so overburdened with routine medical issues AND COULDNT DENY SERVICE BASED ON INABILITY TO PAY?
and the reality is in that article. i dont know about that specific area... but.. as the article states
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"Uninsured Adults Presenting to U.S. Emergency Departments," which was conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, found several reasons for emergency room overcrowding, including a decreasing number of emergency departments and inpatient hospital beds. But it also concluded that overcrowding is directly tied to the declining number of primary care physicians, said Manya Newton, M.D., M.P.H., an emergency department physician and one of the primary authors of the study.
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