Having Medicaid may Increase Emergency Room Visits

Individuals who have a health insurance cover are 40 percent more likely to use the emergency room than those in similar circumstances who do not have a health insurance, a new study found . The study takes advantage of Oregon's recent use of a lottery to assign access to Medicaid, the government-backed health-care plan for low-income Americans, to certain uninsured adults. The research examines emergency room records for roughly 25,000 people over 18 months. "When ...