The Uninsured Do Not Use The Emergency Department More-They Use Other Care Less.

ABSTRACT: There is a popular perception that insurance coverage will reduce overuse of the emergency department (ED). Both opponents and advocates of expanding insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have made statements to the effect that EDs have been jammed with the uninsured and that paying for the uninsured population's emergency care has burdened the health care system as a result of the expense of that care. It has therefore been surprising to many to encounter evidence that insurance coverage increases ED use instead of decreasing it. Two facts may help explain this unexpected finding. First, there is a common misperception that the uninsured use the ED more than the insured. In fact, insured and uninsured adults use the ED at very similar rates and in very similar circumstanc

SUBMITTER: Zhou RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5754025 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature