Mainstream media sheds more light on the primary care shortage, parroting the same themes that you read here. New York City and state come into focus today.
amNewYork states the obvious fallacy of universal care:
Having health insurance and affordable medical care doesn’t mean better access to doctors, according to a city-commissioned report released Monday.
Bingo.
The New York branch of the ACP also joins in the act in this Albany Times Union op-ed:
Critics will say that with the state facing enormous budget deficits, this is not the right time to invest in primary care. However, the opposite is actually the case.
Consider: Fewer than 20 percent of emergency room visits in New York involve a true medical emergency, according to numerous studies. The average cost of an emergency room visit in 2003 was $560. Because many of these visits were made by Medicaid recipients, much of that cost was picked up by state taxpayers. By comparison, a visit to a primary care physician is less than half of that cost.
You have to spend money to save money, and I’m dubious that the politicians have the foresight to realize that.
I’ll challenge them to surprise me.
