Originally published September 26 2005
Uninsured are less likely to get follow-up care
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Following emergency room care, patients who have health insurance receive follow-up treatment much more quickly than those with Medicaid or no insurance, a new study shows.
It's not how sick you are but whether you have health insurance that often determines how quickly you can get urgently needed follow-up care after emergency room treatment, a study has found.
Private insurance gives patients a far better chance of getting appointments within a week of treatment than does Medicaid or no insurance, according to the study of 430 clinics in nine U.S. cities.
Delays in urgent outpatient treatment put patients at risk for life-threatening conditions, he said.
But even privately insured Americans -- about 180 million -- are at risk, according to the study, which found that private insurance wasn't a guarantee of timely access.
Co-author Dr. Karin Rhodes, an emergency physician at the University of Chicago, said she fairly frequently sees patients return to the emergency room in a deteriorated condition because they didn't receive timely follow-up care.
"As a nation, we've got to find a way to provide coverage for everybody, not just those who are employed" or able to pay for private insurance, Coyle said.
The study, appearing in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association, comes amid growing pressure to avoid hospitalizing all but the sickest patients treated in emergency rooms -- a strategy that depends on timely access to follow-up care, the researchers said.
"We weren't trying to point out any villains in the system -- clinics certainly need to make sure they can cover the cost of their care," Asplin said.
The researchers had graduate students pose as patients treated in emergency rooms for pneumonia, rising high blood pressure, or suspected tubal pregnancies.
"Privately insured" callers were much more likely to get timely appointments than were those posing as Medicaid patients -- nearly 64 percent versus 34 percent -- and than those posing as uninsured patients -- 65 percent vs. 25 percent.
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