[quote=SK in CV]
You have this kind of backwards. Reductions of ER visits are much more likely to be from patients that previously had no coverage and weren’t paying. That won’t reduce ERs viability, it will increase it. They’ll be servicing a higher percentage of paying patients, so if anything, they can decrease prices. And those patients who were previously getting free ER treatment, are more likely to see non-ER providers, with treatment at a much lower cost. So yes, it will lower the overall cost of healthcare.[/quote]
How do figure that it will lower the total cost of health care. Look at it from the vantage point of the ER. They have x amount of staff to pay, y amount of fixed costs, and some profit margin. Whether they charge 10 patients $1 million each and get paid on 30% of them or they charge $300K each and get paid on all of them doesn’t change the total cost of health care at all. Those 10 patients brought in 3 million dollars to the ER. It just changes who’s paying for it. Suppose this scenario.
The ER sees 7 patients cuts the $1 million charge to $500K and gets paid on all of them. The ER just made an addition $500K and total health care costs went up even though each individual patient was charged less.
Now if the ER responds by cutting their workforce (costs) because they see less patients the total costs could go down but nothing in Obamacare makes them do that.
