"the trend over the past decade has been that uninsured people go to the emergency room when they're very ill."
I really don't understand that. I was unemployed for a few months last fall when I went to go take care of a friend who was dying of cancer, and during this time I got a really terrible case of giardia from drinking poorly purified tap water (the US is rapidly becoming a third world country). I went to a local medical clinic and got to see a doctor the same day, for about a half hour and it cost me $35. Heck, I even offered to pay the actual cost of $55 but they insisted i pay the lower rate because I was unemployed (I think they get some extra kickback from the local government if they report unemployed people coming in). The wait was relatively short and I got a scrip for a drug that worked. The clinic really did a good job of taking care of low income individuals at very reasonable cost.
I'm really not certain why there is such a need to go to emergency rooms when there are great places like this. Are people just misinformed about their options, or are places like this few and far between? I don't know.
I really don't understand that. I was unemployed for a few months last fall when I went to go take care of a friend who was dying of cancer, and during this time I got a really terrible case of giardia from drinking poorly purified tap water (the US is rapidly becoming a third world country). I went to a local medical clinic and got to see a doctor the same day, for about a half hour and it cost me $35. Heck, I even offered to pay the actual cost of $55 but they insisted i pay the lower rate because I was unemployed (I think they get some extra kickback from the local government if they report unemployed people coming in). The wait was relatively short and I got a scrip for a drug that worked. The clinic really did a good job of taking care of low income individuals at very reasonable cost.
I'm really not certain why there is such a need to go to emergency rooms when there are great places like this. Are people just misinformed about their options, or are places like this few and far between? I don't know.