Romney scolded for emergency room remark

During his Sunday interview on CBS's 60 Minutes, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney said that uninsured Americans can get care in emergency rooms -- a comment that drew a critical response from the American College of Emergency Physicians.

NPR: Romney Medicaid Remarks Raise Eyebrows
It's not so much what Mitt Romney said about whether the government should guarantee people health care in his interview on CBS's "60 Minutes" Sunday that has health care policy types buzzing. It's how that compares to what he has said before (Rovner, 9/25).

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: Romney Remark On Emergency Care Draws Rebuke
Mitt Romney's comments in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview Sunday that emergency rooms provide care to people who don't have insurance drew a rebuke from a group representing emergency-room doctors and a jab from the Obama campaign. But the question and answer weren't so clear (Radnofsky, 9/24).

Politico Pro: Docs To Romney: ERs Aren't Insurance
Emergency room physicians are taking issue with Mitt Romney's assertion that Americans can always turn to the emergency room for their health care. "Emergency care is not health insurance," said Dr. David Seaberg, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians. "Emergency departments have become a health care safety net for everyone, but that safety net is breaking. If you continue to take emergency care for granted, and don't support it, it eventually won't be there for anyone." Seaberg said that as access to primary care declines, emergency departments are becoming overburdened even by people with insurance (Haberkorn, 9/24).