Broken Promise: Obamacare Sees Jump in Emergency Room Use

Statistics reveal that emergency room visits are up and not decreasing as the president promised before Obamacare became the law of the land.

Ryan Allen, Emergency Medicine Service Line Director at Bakersfield Heart Hospital told 23 ABC Bakersfield that not only are ER room visits increasing, but lines are long. “Unfortunately it can take hours to be seen, because those patients who are possibly having a heart attack, they’re pushed in front.”

With increased numbers of insured Americans under Obamacare, more people are now using the emergency rooms. Obama touted that the additional policy holders would not need to resort to emergency rooms. However, according to Allen, given that most people work until 7 PM and doctor offices close early, people in need of medical assistance end up heading over to the nearby ER.

ABC reports that Bakersfield Memorial Hospital broke records and now serve 300 people daily in the ER. A Registered Nurse, Jenny Wilson, with Memorial Hospital explains that they have developed a fast track system that categorizes the patients based on illness and directs the less serious cases with sprains, cold or cough to get quick treatment and then releases them.

A Los Angeles Times article confirmed that according to state records, Los Angeles County’s 74 emergency rooms, 11 treated an additional 2,000 patients or more in the first six months of 2014 compared with the same time in 2013.