New Study: ACA Will Lead to Less Than 4% Increase in Primary Care Visits
Americans who gain health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act will increase the demand for health care services—but only slightly. According to a Commonwealth Fund analysis out today, the number of annual primary care visits will rise by 3.8 percent nationally, which translates into about 70 additional visits per year per primary care physician, or 1.3 visits per week. <br /><br />
New York University researchers Sherry Glied and Stephanie Ma say the U.S. health system should be able to accommodate the increased demand, since people’s access to care is most influenced by local patterns of health service use and whether medical practices use physician assistants or health information technology.<br />
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The new study aligns with a recent Commonwealth Fund survey that found 75 percent of people with new Medicaid or ACA marketplace coverage who had tried to find a new primary care doctor since enrolling in their new plan reported it was very or somewhat easy to do so.