Before the Affordable Care Act (ACA) became law, there were two schools of thought on how President Obama's signature health reforms would impact emergency rooms. Opponents predicted that it would drive up the number of ER visits and increase wait times, while supporters argued it would decrease ER visits because more people would visit primary-care doctors instead.
A few years into the law, not much has changed. The average wait time at a hospital in 2014 -- the first year that Americans were required to have health insurance -- was 24 minutes, down only four minutes from 2012. From 2008-2010, 31 minutes was the median time before someone was seen in the ER.
Read Full Article »