Patients without health insurance are flooding US emergency departments, according to a new report by the National Association of Community Health Centers, in Bethesda, Md.
An estimated 43 million individuals in the United States lack health insurance, many of whom rely on emergency department visits for their basic primary care. In 2002, there were 110.2 million visits to hospital emergency departments, up from 89.8 million in 1998. Meanwhile, there were 15% fewer emergency departments in 2002 than in 1998.
The study analyzed published reports from the US Health and Human Services Department, which receives annual data from all 1000 or so federally funded community health centers. The study also found that in 2003 alone, the number of uninsured patients seeking care at these centers grew by 11%. Some health centers are experiencing an explosion of uninsured patients as high as 73%.
The report can be found at http://www.nachc.com/press/nachcreport.asp.
Country-Specific Mortality and Growth Failure in Infancy and Yound Children and Association With Material Stature
Use interactive graphics and maps to view and sort country-specific infant and early dhildhood mortality and growth failure data and their association with maternal
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