• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

ObamaCare Backfiring

Mike

Well-known member
It wasn't supposed to work this way, but since the Affordable Care Act took effect in January, Norton Hospital has seen its packed emergency room become even more crowded, with about 100 more patients a month.

That 12 percent spike in the number of patients — many of whom aren't actually facing true emergencies — is spurring the hospital to convert a waiting room into more exam rooms.

"We're seeing patients who probably should be seen at our (immediate-care centers)," said Lewis Perkins, the hospital's vice president of patient care and chief nursing officer. "And we're seeing this across the system."

That's just the opposite of what many people expected under Obamacare, particularly because one of the goals of health reform was to reduce pressure on emergency rooms by expanding Medicaid and giving poor people better access to primary care.

Instead, many hospitals in Kentucky and across the nation are seeing a surge of those newly insured Medicaid patients walking into emergency rooms.
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
How can you expect people that weren't responsible enough to buy health insurance on their own to be responsible enough to seek primary care in a clinic? We have to remember the large percentage of who we are dealing with here. If you are irresponsible in one area of your life, you are probably irresponsible in other areas as well.
 
Top