The uninsured, it’s said, use emergency rooms for primary care. That’s expensive and ineffective. Once they’re insured, they’ll have regular doctors. Care will improve; costs will decline. Everyone wins. Great argument. Unfortunately, it’s untrue. A study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that the insured accounted for 83 percent of emergency-room visits, reflecting their share of the population. After Massachusetts adopted universal insurance, emergency-room use remained higher than the national average, an Urban Institute study found. More than two-fifths of visits represented non-emergencies. Of those, a majority of adult respondents to a survey said it was “more convenient” to go to the emergency room or they couldn’t “get [a doctor’s] appointment as soon as needed.” … Medicare’s introduction in 1966 produced no reduction in mortality; some studies of extensions of Medicaid for children didn’t find gains.
HT Tim Starr.
Uninsured ER Fallacy
David Goldhill says in the video below that emergency care is not expensive to deliver. He says if you don't believe it, go to an emergency room and look around.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP-...
So Angelina Jolie is a Medicaid beneficiary? Being a single mom doesn't automatically qualify one for Medicaid. Many Medicaid "beneficiaries" are neither "single moms" nor "their kids," so why single out those who are?