[James Dunford, medical director of the city of San Diego’s Emergency Medical Services system] “anticipates that the Affordable Care Act will bring a surge of patients to his ER and those around the country—the opposite of what’s supposed to happen. The law’s backers argued it would help alleviate stress on overcrowded emergency rooms. The 25 million people expected to receive insurance under Obamacare, they reasoned, would make appointments with a doctor instead of turning to ERs for care.”
“Yet a nationwide shortage of primary-care doctors, especially in poor and rural areas, will make it difficult for many of the newly insured to find a personal physician…. The overcrowding “we see now is going to pale in comparison with what we’ll see” once the health-care overhaul takes full effect starting in 2014, says Ryan Stanton, director of emergency medicine at UK HealthCare Good Samaritan Hospital in Lexington, Ky.”
“When Massachusetts passed a health-care reform law in 2006 that provided coverage for nearly everyone, hospitals were surprised to find a 4 percent rise in ER visits, according to a 2011 study of 11 medical centers published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.”
Under Obamacare, Emergency Rooms May Get Even More Crowded
By Stephanie Armour
May 30, 2013
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-30/under-obamacare-emergency-rooms-may-get-even-more-crowded