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Thursday, October 23, 2003Privately insured patients' use of the emergency room rose 24.3 percent to 43.3 million visits over that six-year period. People covered by Medicare, the government insurance for the elderly, visited the ER 16 million times, a 10 percent increase. Visits by uninsured patients rose 10.3 percent to 18 million, while those by patients covered by Medicaid, the government program for the poor, were flat at 18.4 million. Only 46 percent of the ER visits by privately insured patients required care within an hour of arrival. Why would that be? These people presumably have access to a doctor. One ER doc speculates: Dr. Joseph Guarisco, chairman of the emergency medicine department at the Oscher Clinic Foundation in New Orleans, believes a big reason is convenience. Visiting the emergency room may not be prohibitively expensive for an insured patient -- a co-payment of $50 to $100 for a visit, rather than $10 to $20 for an office visit. But a patient can see a doctor, have some tests and consult with the physician again when the results come in all in one visit instead of three separate appointments. Or maybe they've just been seduced by the glamor of the ER. posted by Sydney on 10/23/2003 11:12:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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