E/R Visits Were Supposed To Fall Under Obamacare

John Lott points me to this May 4, 2015 USA Today story:

Three-quarters of emergency physicians say they've seen ER patient visits surge since Obamacare took effect — just the opposite of what many Americans expected would happen.

A poll released today by the American College of Emergency Physicians shows that 28% of 2,099 doctors surveyed nationally saw large increases in volume, while 47% saw slight increases. By contrast, fewer than half of doctors reported any increases last year in the early days of the Affordable Care Act.

Such hikes run counter to one of the goals of the health care overhaul, which is to reduce pressure on emergency rooms by getting more people insured through Medicaid or subsidized private coverage and providing better access to primary care.

A major reason that hasn't happened is there simply aren't enough primary care physicians to handle all the newly insured patients, says ACEP President Mike Gerardi, an emergency physician in New Jersey.

"They don't have anywhere to go but the emergency room," he says. "This is what we predicted. We know people come because they have to."

 No surprise.  Obamacare increased aggregate demand for medical care without increasing the number of doctors.  This is quite similar to when Bill Clinton decided we needed 100,000 more cops on the beat, but the bottleneck in our criminal justice system was never enough arrests, but enough prosecutors and prison cells.  Unfgortunately, Democrats are big on these symbolic measures because Democratic voters are weak on process and math.  That's why they are Democrats.  What amazes me is how many become billionaires.