A national group of emergency room doctors is criticizing what Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said on 60 Minutes last night - that emergency rooms are a way of taking care of people who are uninsured.
Romney's quote: "Well, we do provide care for people who don't have insurance. If someone has a heart attack, they don't sit in their apartment and die. We pick them up in an ambulance, and take them to the hospital, and give them care. And different states have different ways of providing for that care."
The American College of Emergency Physicians today stressed that emergency care is not health insurance. They also said that only 8 percent of patients who visit the nation's ERs are uninsured.
But if more people without health insurance were to rely on emergency rooms for healthcare, the system would collapse, the group says.
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"All patients need health insurance that gives them access to primary care doctors and medical specialists, as well as high-quality emergency care," Dr. David Seaberg, president of the national group, said in a statement.
"Emergency departments have become a health care safety net for everyone, but that safety net is breaking. If you continue to take emergency care for granted, and don’t support it, it eventually won’t be there for anyone."
In Arizona, hospital leaders have long said that more uninsured people means an increase in emergency room visits. They made that argument when Gov. Jan Brewer decided to cut enrollment in the state's Medicaid program due to budget constraints.
With uninsured patients flooding emergency rooms with unmanaged chronic illness like asthma, heart conditions or diabetes, the insured will end up paying more to cover that uncompensated care, state hospital officials have said.
More patients seeking care in the ER also means longer waits for people with health emergencies. Some emergency rooms around the country have already closed because of escalating costs. Tucson will lose an emergency room in November.
Seaberg of the national emergency physicians group said policymakers and presidential candidates continue to perpetuate myths about emergency medicine.
"Emergency visits will increase despite health care reform," Seaberg said.
"Hundreds of emergency departments have closed, related to providing uncompensated care, leaving fewer facilities to see patients.
"This means more and more patients will rely on fewer resources. Emergency physicians and hospitals have shouldered a large part of financial burden for the uninsured by incurring billions of dollars of uncompensated care each year."
An article and link to the interview is on the Huffington Post today.
Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the American College of Emergency Physicians has 53 chapters representing each state, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.
A government services chapter represents emergency physicians employed by military branches and other government agencies.
