In a time where our minority populations need support this legislation could severely decrease their health. Underrepresented minorities have always lacked access to healthcare and suffered the worst outcomes in the U.S. This problem was made worse in COVID-19 pandemic. Data from Johns Hopkins University shows that blacks are three times more likely to contract the novel coronavirus and six times more likely to die from it than any other racial group. Emergency physicians and hospitals are the healthcare safety net when Medicaid recipients do not have adequate access to primary care and public health. These minority groups would be disproportionately impacted and suffer disproportionately when critical-access hospitals lose Medicaid funding essential to their survival.
Base the reimbursement on the presenting symptoms, not the final diagnosis. It is very difficult for the average person to know if the chest pain they are having is a heart attack or indigestion. It is difficult for the parents on an infant with fever to know if it is and ear infection or meningitis.