ER Use vs. Family Physician

With economy ever turning downward, I am sure America’s ERs will continue to feel the crunch of treating the uninsured and now the insured.

People with lower incomes – roughly $64,000 for a family of four – were about twice as likely to use the ER as those from households with higher incomes. Similarly, respondents whose primary language was not English were also about twice as likely to use ERs for nonemergencies, compared to their English-speaking counterparts. Hispanics and nonwhite residents were also about twice as likely to head to the ER for illnesses that their primary-care doctor typically could have handled.

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