At least one out of every three patients who visit an emergency room does not have a true emergency. As a result, ERs become overcrowded, physicians have difficulty seeing patients with real emergencies quickly, and hospitals can become so clogged that ambulances must be diverted, potentially leading to deaths. Moreover, unnecessary overuse of the ER is a contributor to soaring health care costs.
There’s no debate: CHIP saves lives. Consequently, when you jeopardize CHIP, you jeopardize kids’ lives. It’s time for Congress to reauthorize CHIP before Texas and other states start winding the program down and going down a path that may be impossible to reverse.
The stakes are much higher than they were seven years ago when Obamacare was enacted. Since then, healthcare expenses have increased at more than twice the rate of wages. Americans need Congress to fix healthcare now more than ever before.
America does not produce college graduates who are ready for work, independence or advancing their community — in other words, life.
