Patients on Medicare and Medicaid tend to utilize the health care system more frequently.
Combined with the fact that an increasing number of physicians are closing their doors to such patients, the so-called “safety net” clinics and hospitals are finding themselves with much more work than they can handle.
In this case in California, one such clinic was seriously considering shutting its doors to Medicare.
A physician assistant who works at the clinic is fed up with the number of doctors shunting these patients to them, saying, “Who’s going to see your neighbor while you’re telling them you won’t see them?”
This goes to show that universal coverage only works if doctors accept all insurances, and certainly does not guarantee access to medical care.
Just ask anyone on Medicaid and Medicare, who often end up going to the hospital, making the emergency department look more “like a nursing home.”
