Nine Texans, 2,678 emergency room visits: Should we ration health care?

A recent study by the Integrated Care Collaboration (ICC) of emergency room visits in Central Texas discovered that, over the past six years, nine individuals have made 2,678 ER visits to local hospitals, at a cost of $3 million. One of these people visited 145 times last year and 554 times in the past five years.

Reading these stats reinforces my conviction that any unified national health care program will have to include that ugly word, rationing. Nine people should not be able to run up a $3 million tab when so many others lack basic services such as vaccines and prenatal care.