Battleangel

American dream? Not for all it seems. Here is one answer to the myth.

After being treated in a emergency room for an urgent condition, Americans with private health insurance are much more likely to secure a timely follow-up appointment with a community doctor than those with Medicaid or no health insurance, a study shows.

“This study, I think, speaks to a really important myth that is out there,” Asplin said. “That is that a lot of Americans think that, sure we have 45.8 million uninsured people, but when they really need care they get it — and in our study the uninsured callers really needed care and they weren’t able to get it.”

It’s also noteworthy, he said, that 98 percent of clinics screened callers for a source of payment but only 28 percent attempted to determine the severity of the callers medical condition. This shows that “financial screening trumps medical triage in our care system,” Asplin said.