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Although expanding Medicaid in Oregon didn’t drive down the recipients’ overall use of hospital emergency rooms, the state has seen a decline in avoidable use of ERs by 4 percent in the past two years, according to state statistics.
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Paul Burns/Getty Images
Will Medicaid expansion save the country money as people stop using expensive emergency rooms for primary care? Not yet, suggest the latest findings from a landmark study published online Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study of Medicaid patients in Oregon who got Medicaid in 2008 found their ER use stayed high two years after they gained the health insurance coverage — even as they also increased their visits to doctors’ offices. All eyes have been on Oregon to answer this question about ER use because, eight years ago, the state tried an experiment. It wanted …
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