Illegals Prefer Emergency Room Visits

Polls indicate Obamacare will boost, not reduce Emergency Room visits. Supporters of the healthcare reform legislation passed by Congress claim it will reduce emergency room visits by providing nearly all Americans with the insurance they can use to see a primary care physician. I've seen first-hand a restructuring of the remaining area hospitals emergency rooms and now additional triage rooms. Why a triage area? Because the amount of people using the emergency rooms for primary care has negatively altered the real emergency care delivered for people with true emergencies.

A new survey by the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) found that 97 percent of doctors every day treat Medicaid patients in their emergency departments because the patients could not find a doctor willing to treat them for the fee Medicaid would pay. If Obamacare provides insurance that reimburses physicians at Medicaid rates, visits to the ER will likely increase, according to ACEP. In fact, 89 percent of doctors polled said they believe ER visits will increase under Obamacare. 

“This poll confirms what we are witnessing in Massachusetts — that visits to emergency rooms are going to increase across the country, despite healthcare reform, and that health insurance coverage does not guarantee access to medical care,” said ACEP President Sandra Schneider. “While hundreds of emergency rooms across the country have been forced to shut down due to financial issues, increasing the workload at those remaining open, and the healthcare reform law fails to address this issue,” she added.

In Sleepy Hollow, Phelps Memorial Hospital anticipates an increase to the tune in excess of $40 million of loss per year. When queried as to why, I was told because NYS law entitles anyone requesting medical aid treatment, specifically with ER’s, and they cannot be turned away. Nearly half of the physicians surveyed in ACEP’s poll said fear of lawsuits is the biggest challenge to cutting costs in emergency rooms, and 53 percent said their fear of lawsuits was the main reason for ordering many of the tests they perform. That speaks volumes. The intent of not turning people away from ER’s requesting treatment was originally meant to provide emergency care to those truly in need, but without health insurance or a job with income. Once again, the extremists morphed this into what they wanted it to be, ultimately forcing the closure of many hospitals. Locally, we’ve seen Saint Agnes Hospital in White Plains, and United Hospital of Port Chester, close.

The effects of closing hospitals in our area has been dramatic. While it’s not politically correct to say who benefits the most from this liberal interpretation of the NYS law requiring treatment for all, the people working in the ER’s tell me it’s primarily the illegal alien population, aided by patient rights representatives that we also pay for. All of our area hospitals have recently renovated their emergency room areas to have more seats in the waiting room, more beds in the ER, larger staffs, and most importantly, larger triage areas. Why is that important? Because ambulances routinely bring victims and patients in around-the-clock. What used to be a routine call for them of 45 minutes to and hour, has been increased to at least an hour to an hour and a half. And, most are volunteer fire or ems personnel, giving their time to their communities. When they arrive at a hospital, they can no longer allow just any nurse or doctor “sign off” on receiving a patient. Now specific triage people must do that. Then there’s the sometimes long wait just to get a patient off of their stretcher onto the hospitals stretcher or bed. Going to an emergency room nowadays is like visiting a Friendly's Restaurant: there are a lot of people moving around and looking busy, but nobody is helping you! Get used to it.