ER Overcrowding Caused by Insured, Not Uninsured

A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association proves once and for all that crowded emergency rooms are typically filled with insured patients, not the uninsured. According to USAToday, even experts have bought into the myths that uninsured individuals seek non-urgent care in ERs, that they are the cause of overcrowding, and that they are disproportionately more likely to use the ER than the population at large. However, uninsured patients actually tend to avoid getting care at the ER because they are worried about how much their care will cost - and insured patients are more likely to seek care at the ER because they don't want to wait for their regular physician.