Sadly, no. We were hoping they have well-funded HSAs or high-deductible plans (say at about the $1 million level), but of course that's not the case. The Associated Press reports that just nine people accounted for nearly 2,700 of the emergency room visits in the Austin, Texas area during the past six years at a cost of $3 million to taxpayers and others. Want an answer to the trend in rising health care expenditures? This is one big answer.
The patients went to hospital emergency rooms 2,678 times from 2003 through 2008 (yet there are only 1,825 days in that time period), said a report from the nonprofit Integrated Care Collaboration, a group of health care providers who care for low-income and uninsured patients.
"What we're really trying to do is find out who's using our emergency rooms … and find solutions," Ann Kitchen, executive director of the group, told the wire service. Yeah, it seems just nine people are using them. We hear so much about the rising cost of health care, but it's irresponsible health care utilization, for which we're all responsible, which is the main culprit.
