Changes in insurance tied to more ER visits

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – People who either gained or lost their health insurance took more trips to the emergency room than those who had a stable insurance status, in a new study. The findings are troubling when considering the 32 million Americans expected to become newly-insured under President Barack Obama’s 2010 healthcare law. But the results also suggest that the number of ER visits even out as a person remains either insured or uninsured for more than a year. “Eventually, you’d suspect that their (ER) utilization would go down. So it could just be a short-term surge,” said Dr. …