> Drug seeking patients, homeless patients, and patients with mental health issues very often end up in the ER.
A lot of these people end up in the ER because they don’t have any health insurance at all. But that’s well outside the scope of the “issue” the health insurance company describes in the article. I have had friends and family who had to be dragged to the ER because they didn’t think their situation was enough of an “emergency” but it absolutely was: chest pains were a heart attack in progress and a fever with a stiff neck was a pretty serious infection, for example.
How many legitimate emergencies vs “non-emergencies” will be discouraged from receiving ER treatment? I suspect legitimate emergency treatment foregone will be larger (and represent a significantly larger cost savings to the health plan) at the expense of our collective long-term health and well-being.
A lot of these people end up in the ER because they don’t have any health insurance at all. But that’s well outside the scope of the “issue” the health insurance company describes in the article. I have had friends and family who had to be dragged to the ER because they didn’t think their situation was enough of an “emergency” but it absolutely was: chest pains were a heart attack in progress and a fever with a stiff neck was a pretty serious infection, for example.
How many legitimate emergencies vs “non-emergencies” will be discouraged from receiving ER treatment? I suspect legitimate emergency treatment foregone will be larger (and represent a significantly larger cost savings to the health plan) at the expense of our collective long-term health and well-being.