MPH’s Graves: ACA insurance expansion tied to faster emergency care
Some low-income U.S. patients may have an easier time choosing a hospital for emergency care thanks to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), a new study suggests.
The study only looked at for-profit hospitals. Previous research suggests that poor and uninsured patients sometimes travel longer distances in an emergency to avoid for-profit hospitals closer to home out of concern about the bills. Instead, they would seek treatment at nonprofit facilities that might offer free or discounted care, said senior study author John Graves of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee.