I was wondering the same thing. I see the difference in my primary care doctor who does not take insurance. So much less overhead, same salary, and better patient outcomes. There is a multiplier effect, as you add people at some point you might need an office manager and then more nurses to keep up quota but for every new dollar of revenue you make the margin goes down.

You wonder how much of a hospital is true emergencies vs scheduled care. While ERs are indeed busy, how many of those should actually go to a primary care doctor instead. Even then I would imagine your schedule appointments are the bulk of the volume at a hospital.

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mixdup 2 hours ago | parent [-]

The ER vs. having a regular doctor is a big impact. It's partially why there are so many urgent care centers, but a lot of uninsured use the ER as their primary care as the ER has a duty under law (and ethics) to treat anyone who comes through the door for anything, regardless of whether they can pay or not, where a primary care physician can turn people away if they can't pay

	▲	infecto an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Agree and I cannot help but think we in the US always digs this hole. I wish at the federal level we required citizens buying into health insurance with a very generous sliding scale for those at lower incomes. It reminds me of medicaid/care. Folks will not go to the doctor because of costs and then once they age or cost into assistance their condition is now permanent.