Healthcare markets are complex and confusing places. But one fact is simple and straightforward: all else equal, hospitals and emergency departments are a lot more expensive than outpatient clinics. Which makes it all the more bewildering that so many low income patients prefer hospitals over primary care clinics.
Bewildering until now. Shreya Kangovi and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania interviewed low income patients and discovered some fascinating reasons why they aren’t attracted to primary care clinics.
It starts with affordability. When patients lack health insurance, it is hard to make appointments at primary care clinics which, like most healthcare practitioners, initiate their evaluation of patients with a procedure sarcastically referred to as a “wallet biopsy.” If you want an appointment to see a primary care physician for an earache, the appointment clerk is going to ask you about your insurance… (Read more and view comments at Forbes)
