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Who's packing ERs? Not the uninsured | Reuters
This is very surprising. How is it that nobody knew this until now?
One in five people in the United States visit an emergency room every year, and most of them have health insurance of some kind, according to a U.S. government survey released on Wednesday.
The survey contradicts a common perception that emergency rooms are packed with uninsured people and illegal immigrants. It also rejects some claims that people are using the emergency department for routine care -- just 10 percent of visits were for non-urgent causes.
"In 2007, approximately one in five persons in the U.S. population had one or more emergency department visits in a 12-month period," the report from the National Center for Health Statistics reads.
"Among the under-65 population, the uninsured were no more likely than the insured to have had at least one emergency department visit in a 12-month period."
This is very surprising. How is it that nobody knew this until now?