The name of a recent study make its point clear in its title: "Medicaid Increases Emergency Department Use."
The study is the latest in a series that tracks the effects of bringing previously uninsured people into Oregon's version of Medicaid, the Oregon Health Plan. The general belief before the study was that giving people access to doctors would reduce visits to the emergency room. The study refutes that.
Lead author Sarah Taubman joins us to explain the findings and the larger purpose of the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment.