Study: Rate of ED use similar for those with Medicaid, private insurance

A new national study has found that while Medicaid patients visit emergency department at twice the rate of privately insured, their visits are typically for perceived emergencies, countering a common belief that poorer patients overuse EDs for routine care, the study's authors contend (Source: "Poor aren’t misusing ER, study finds," Reuters via Columbus Dispatch, July 12, 2012).

The study, conducted by the Washington D.C.-based Center for Health System Change found that one in 10 Medicaid patients used an emergency room for non-urgent care, compared with about 1 in 14 for patients with private insurance.

“If you picked a Medicaid recipient and a privately insured patient out of an (emergency department) waiting room and asked them both why they were there, the likelihood that they described symptoms we would call non-urgent is pretty similar,” said Emily Carrier, a researcher for the center.

The study also found that the reason Medicaid beneficiaries have higher ED use is the "well-established health-status differences with privately insured adults: higher illness burden, greater illness severity and higher rates of severe disability," according to the study.