Reuters reports on a new study from the National Center for Health Statistics that uninsured people make as many ER visits insured people. This is contrary to popular belief that the uninsured were swallowing up the majority of ER resources. The study found that "Medicaid beneficiaries were more likely to have had at least one ED [emergency department] visit in a 12-month period than persons with private insurance and the uninsured" for the under 65 age group.
Other key findings and analysis after the jump.
Key findings from the study show that:
- Older adults (aged 75 and over), non-Hispanic black persons, poor persons, and persons with Medicaid coverage were more likely to have had at least one emergency department (ED) visit in a 12-month period than those in other age, race, income, and insurance groups.
- ED visits by the uninsured were no more likely to be triaged as nonurgent than visits by those with private insurance or Medicaid coverage
- Persons with and without a usual source of medical care were equally likely to have had one or more ED visits in a 12-month period.
These findings definitely show that health care reform is needed, but it throws more gunk onto Obama's reform and the proposals of conservatives. It seems that no one really knew what the hell was going on in the emergency rooms. Some facts might have helped Congress play its political game and solve problems instead of have a bitterly partisan dog and pony show.
With a focus on preventative care, we know we can lower medical costs, but how do we get people to go to the doctor regularly and take care of themselves at home. Medicaid recipients certainly aren't doing the latter and many aren't doing the former until they get older. Neglecting to fix problems now only makes them worse, harder to fix, or more expensive to fix later.
I know from personal experience that some recipients of Medicaid are not physically or logistically capable of going to the doctor for regular checkups and taking care of themselves properly. I also know that in many cases people, young people such as myself in particular, neglect going to the doctor or neglect some basic medical housekeeping tasks. Why? It's not in our culture or nature to do so. In school, I felt I was told fairly often enough to "exercise" and have some physical activity, but I never felt like I was ever taught, heck even told, how to accomplish this. From the experiences of those around me, public and private schoolers alike, I gathered that the experience was the same. In terms of healthy eating, any education I received was token at best. Most of my inclination to eat healthy was from the home, where most education starts. However this was always token stuff too. "Eat vegetables," "eat greens," etc.
In order to achieve maximum health, we have to have a bottom up
and top down education system that properly teaches kids about proactive ways to stay healthy. I feel like we live in a society where our health problems can be fixed only through pills and surgery. That's not a good lifestyle. That's the only way to keep people out of emergency rooms for everything. It would also help curtail some of the soaring costs of health care because as the Reuters report on the
NCHS study says that 47 percent of doctors believe the reforms signed into law in would worsen overcrowding in emergency rooms. Besides that, where are all of the urgent care centers? I went there as a kid for what was an emergency situation, but not one requiring an ambulance. I remember the wait was short, if it existed at all. I was in, fixed, and out. Well, not
fixed exactly, but I had the necessary care. People with insurance have to know about urgent care centers and where to find them. Often times, they are quicker than the ER fixes for the simple emergencies. That of course is if any emergency is simple.
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Under Health Care Reform, If you do not have medical insurance you can be penalized, but now you can easily find health insurance for your family under $40 http://bit.ly/bYoNQH
You said: I know from personal experience that some recipients of Medicaid are not physically or logistically capable of going to the doctor for regular checkups and taking care of themselves properly.
What are these barriers? I'm afraid that does not make sense to me, as a matter of fact to receive Medicaid, you should be require to have at least one check up a year between the ages of 20-45 outside of that, you should be required to have two.
Schools would do a lot better if they did not serve crap for lunch every day of the freakin' week. Also Mcdonald's and the rest of the fast food industry should be taxed into oblivion for serving food that is not simply unhealty, it is anti-healthy. They could easily switch to whole grain buns and use filler in hamburger so it is not as anti-healthy as it is. They do not have to have those harmful levels of sodium and nitrites in their food either.
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