ency-rooms-obamacare/10181349/
Why is anybody surprised by this? When someone wants to see a doctor they
want to see one right now. Not tomorrow, not next week, certainly not next
month. Furthermore, if the people pay no price for medical care, why
wouldn't they go where they can see a doctor right now?
"It wasn't supposed to work this way, but since the Affordable Care Act took
effect in January, Norton Hospital has seen its packed emergency room become
even more crowded, with about 100 more patients a month."
That 12 percent spike in the number of patients - many of whom aren't
actually facing true emergencies - is spurring the hospital to convert a
waiting room into more exam rooms.
"We're seeing patients who probably should be seen at our (immediate-care
centers)," said Lewis Perkins, the hospital's vice president of patient care
and chief nursing officer. "And we're seeing this across the system."
That's just the opposite of what many people expected under Obamacare,
particularly because one of the goals of health reform was to reduce
pressure on emergency rooms by expanding Medicaid and giving poor people
better access to primary care.
Instead, many hospitals in Kentucky and across the nation are seeing a surge
of those newly insured Medicaid patients walking into emergency rooms.
Nationally, nearly half of ER doctors responding to a recent poll by the
American College of Emergency Physicians said they've seen more visits since
Jan. 1, and nearly nine in 10 expect those visits to rise in the next three
years. Mike Rust, president of the Kentucky Hospital Association, said
members statewide describe the same trend.
Experts cite many reasons: A longstanding shortage of primary-care doctors
leaves too few to handle all the newly insured patients. Some doctors won't
accept Medicaid. And poor people often can't take time from work when most
primary care offices are open, while ERs operate round-the-clock and by law
must at least stabilize patients.
Plus, some patients who have been uninsured for years don't have regular
doctors and are accustomed to using ERs, even though it is much more
expensive. Others have let illnesses and injuries fester so long they have
become emergencies.
"It's a perfect storm here," said Dr. Ryan Stanton of Lexington, president
of the Kentucky chapter of the ER physician group."We've given people an ATM
card in a town with no ATMs."
By Epictetus
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