Although it’s often presumed that emergency room visits are forpeople without health care coverage, a new poll of emergencyphysicians shows that’s not the case. According to a new surveyfrom the American College of Emergency Physicians, 97 percent of ERphysicians reported treating patients on a daily basis who werereferred to them by primary care doctors.

That same percentage said they treated patients “daily” who haveMedicaid, the federal-state health plan for the low-income, but whocan’t find a doctor who will accept their insurance. If the newhealth care reform legislation provides insurance coverage thatreimburses doctors at Medicaid rates, this could exacerbate a lackof access to medical care.

“Many of my patients do what they are supposed to do — they calltheir primary care doctor when they have problems,” says DarriaLong Gillespie, a resident physician at Yale Department ofEmergency Medicine. But primary care doctors often worry they don’thave the time or resources to treat them and instead send them tothe ER, she says.