Hospital, doctor visits up 20 percent in 5 years
MSNBCPosted: July 1st, 2007 by Steve Trinward
“Hospital and doctor visits in the United States have surged by 20 percent in the past five years, and the most commonly prescribed medications are antidepressants, according to statistics published on Friday. The survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also found most people who visited emergency rooms had private health insurance, although the uninsured were twice as likely to use emergency services as people with insurance. The report estimates that 1.2 billion visits were made to hospitals, emergency rooms and physicians’ offices in 2005.” [editor’s note: Good news or bad news — Good if it means more are seeing doctors for prevention and screening; bad if the ER visits are mostly too late for anything but palliative care - SAT] (07/01/07)
July 1st, 2007 at 8:19 pm
[…] First off, based on a survey done by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of ER visits went up again last year; in fact, the results show almost a 20 percent increase (to 1.2 billion admissions) over a previous study five years ago. According to an MSNBC article, this can be attributed mostly to the graying of America, and the rising extent of Boomer-generation healthcare usage, or as they put it, “The reason is clear — Americans are getting older.” They quote a CDC official as giving this summary: “When you reach 50 things start going wrong, just little by little, and you keep going back to the doctors.” […]